Slip Into The Tragedy
by Commodus
Summary: Gerard and Mikey Way have found themselves in a desert, with no idea how they got there. Now they will have to face their life's greatest challenge, surviving as outlaws in a colourless world, while dealing with personal challenges too. MCR/Killjoys.
1. Chapter 1

1

I don't remember what happened before. I don't remember where we were, who we were with, or why we were doing something. And I probably won't be thinking about it anytime soon. There's too much going on right now for me to even think properly.

This isn't a place I've ever been to before.

I've have never been to a desert, I don't even think there is one in the whole country. But somehow, I'm in one, at the side of a road under a big tree, with my only brother, Gerard, who seemed to be unconscious. I checked to see if he was still breathing, and let out a sigh of relief.

I tried to stand up, finding it a bit difficult. How long had I been there? I was about to dust the dirt off of myself when I realized what I was wearing. The colours were so bright it made me have to squint. I was wearing the brightest yellow top I had ever seen; it had black stripes on it. And I was wearing a bright red leather jacket.

This was just… weird. Whatever was happening to us, I didn't like it. I had no idea what was going on.

Gerard groaned, and sat up, massaging his forehead. He began to look around, probably also confused. I walked over to him and sat down. He just stared at me, like I was a complete stranger.

"How are you feeling?" I asked him. He looked so confused, but he warily responded, "Okay, I guess. Um… who are you?'

Something was different about him. He must have hit his head or something, he knew who I was. "Gerard, it's me, Mikey."

His eyes went a bit bigger, as if taking in my appearance. "Mikey? Is it really you?" I nodded. "Shit, what happened to you?" He asked.

Now I was confused. I didn't feel any different, accept for the clothes. If I had a mirror, I would be able to understand what he was talking about.

"Your hair, and your eyes… you look- how did your eyes get that colour?" He asked me. I had no idea what he was talking about. I told him I didn't feel any different, but he just kept staring at me.

"Your eyes… they're purple." He said. Now it was my turn to stare at him. Had he gone crazy? Or were my eyes actually purple? Last time I checked, they were hazel. I ignored him. He wasn't at a right state, I could tell.

He then stood up, and began walking around the tree, possibly trying to find out where we were. He did this a couple times, then stopped walking and stood next to where I was sitting, staring at the road next to us.

He walked to the road and started examining it, for some reason. He looked down both ways; to see if it would lead anywhere, then started walking what I thought to be east. I got up and ran towards him, just in case he wasn't coming back. I didn't want to be left in the desert alone.

"Where are _you _going?" I asked him, catching up. He glanced back at me, and then pointed down the road. The only thing I saw that caught my attention was a sign; I couldn't read it from here. Gerard must have wanted to know what it said. Now that he was standing, I actually got a good look at what my brother was wearing. It was a lot simpler than my outfit; he had pale purple-blue-white skinny jeans and a black tank top. I wonder why I got here all suited up and he didn't.

We reached the sign in about 10 minutes, and I was already sweating. Gerard, on the other hand, seemed perfectly fine with the heat, he didn't break a sweat. He go so close to the sign I could of pushed his face into it, but of course I didn't. It read:

ROUTE GUANO – 200Mph

It was a road sign. That's it. It didn't do much to help us find civilization, but I suppose it showed us where we were. Sadly, I had never heard of any place called Route Guano, and by the looks of this desert, we were far from New Jersey.

Gerard stuck two fingers in his mouth, and then put them up in the air, feeling the wind. He let out a huff, and then continued walking down the road. I sighed, and followed him, not knowing where this would take us, but I hoped that it would be home.


	2. Chapter 2

2

It was scorching hot, yet Gerard still didn't seem to notice. He was reacting completely opposite as me. I was sweating; I could feel it on my face, the condensation just stuck to my skin. I knew I must have looked revolting. But Gerard didn't break a single sweat; he seemed to be repelling every one of the sun's rays. It wasn't normal, like how I was reacting. Yet, I apparently, was also showing abnormal signs.

According to Gerard, my eyes were now purple. I didn't have purple eyes last time I checked. My eye colour is one of the few things I remember about my past, besides who I am of course. But I don't remember what I like, who my parents were, or any of my family besides Gerard. I'm surprised I remember my age, well, last time I checked, I was seventeen.

I had no idea how long we had been walking, but I felt ready to pass out. I was determined to keep up with Gerard, who must have become some sort of robot, unable to feel a thing. I wish I knew how he wasn't reacting.

For Route Guano being the only road in what seemed to be a ten mile radius, there weren't many cars around, maybe because this is the desert, but, they still get used as short cuts. I was so thankful when Gerard stopped walking, and turned to face a small area of the road surrounded by bushes.

"It's getting late," He said, not facing me, "we should stop for the night." He walked into the clearing, and sat down, still not showing the exhaustion I was.

"How are we going to survive out here? We don't have food or water, we'll die!" I realized this when the words left my mouth. I suddenly felt scared, but this different Gerard just smirked, as if he didn't care. "I think we'll be alright, Michael. I have a good feeling." He was really starting to scare me. He looked the same, but acted so different.

The sky had turned an orange-pink colour, and it was starting to get cold. I could feel the temperature dropping, and I looked over at Gerard, who again, seemed immune to everything. He started to lie down, as if about to go to sleep, but he looked wide awake, and by his facial expression, he almost looked scared.

I regained enough of my breath to begin to think about our situation. What I know so far is that we are in a desert, by a road called Route Guano, in a small clearing, and we don't know how we got here. But for now, the biggest issue on my mind was how we were going to survive. I stood up, mumbled to Gerard about finding some sort of resource for food and began walking out of the clearing.

My arm was grabbed and I was roughly pulled back into the clearing by Gerard. "I'll go, you stay here." He said almost angrily. I didn't object, but Gerard was too protective sometimes. I wouldn't be going so far that he couldn't see me, and if he was worried about snakes or something, he knows I would keep an eye out for them too.

Gerard walked into an area that was surrounded by tall bushes. I lost all sight of him accept for his shadow. It was really quiet now, not that it wasn't before. But nothing made a sound anymore, not even the little desert birds that flew around or any sound to show insects were around. It was an eerie quiet, and it was very uncomfortable. I walked in circles a little in the clearing to create my own noise, and then went through some of the bushes in case there would be any food resource, as a chance.

I then let out a very girly shriek and ran to the other side of the clearing. There was someone in that bush. I didn't have to get a careful look to notice it. It was human shaped. I stared at the spot where I saw it, expecting to see someone walk out of it, possibly going to attack me. I waited for another couple of minutes, and then decided to go back over, to thoroughly check what I saw.

It was a human, but by the looks, it was long dead. I let out a small sigh of relief, but the knowledge that I have to sleep next to a dead guy was not going to sit with me well. I turned around to find Gerard inches away from me, looking in to see what I had found when he was gone.

"You found more than me," He said sadly. He must have felt like he let both of us down, by not being able to find anything. By now, the sun was almost completely gone, and Gerard put his hands under his head and lied on the ground, resting for today. He still looked awake, maybe he was trying to get me to follow his lead, I did, lying down as well, away from the skeleton.

When I finally settled down I then realized I was completely exhausted. I tried to get all the drama from today out of my mind as I let sleep take over me.

I woke up to the loud engine of a car driving by. When I first heard it, I was still groggy. After I realized that was probably the only way to get us out of here, I snapped up from the ground and ran towards the road, trying to see the car. I could see it drive off in the distance, its lights visible through the darkness.

I didn't know where I was. I couldn't see the clearing from this far away. I tried to let my eyes adjust to the darkness, and then walked towards the direction I thought I came from. I couldn't see a thing, it was weird, I never knew what it felt like to be… blind. I couldn't see a foot in front of my face, which was proved when I crashed into something that felt human and fell to the ground.

It was human, a huge, _huge_ man. He was so tall, that he resembled a skyscraper from my position on the ground. This was definitely not my brother. I didn't know what to do; he was just staring at me. I tried to keep my breathing at a normal pace, and muttered a small 'sorry'. He then moved his hand from his hip to in front of my face, but he didn't do as I expected, he didn't help me up.

He put me at gun point.


	3. Chapter 3

3

I was frozen with fear. I've only ever seen guns in movies, or with police officers. But this guy didn't look like an officer. He motioned for me to get off the ground, so I obeyed in fear for my life.

When I stood up I could almost see his face through the darkness. He looked… evil. His mouth was gaping open and he had these wild eyes, like a monster. He put a finger up to his open mouth to tell me to be quiet, again, I obeyed. He took me to the side of the road, where we seemed to be waiting for something, a car, maybe. I kept trying to look over my shoulder to see if I could find Gerard, but he was nowhere to be seen, and I didn't want to get in a fight with a guy with a gun.

The man then fell to the ground, leaving me standing there in shock and confusion. Before, it seemed like the man was just having a battle with himself, until I realized that there was another figure on the ground, wrestling with him. I would have moved, ran for the hills, if I wasn't still so shocked about this overall situation. After a surprisingly short amount of time, the man stopped moving, and the figure stood up. He looked over at me, who stared right back at him.

We didn't move for what felt like hours, or at least until something else came up behind _him_. They wrestled around again for a little, until the newest figure came over victorious, standing up, leaving the other on the ground, motionless. That's when the thought kicked in, that I saw two people get murdered right in front of my eyes. I hoped I wasn't next.

This new figure came over so quickly, I barely saw him until he was grabbing onto my shirt, pulling me towards his face. I could smell blood on his breath, it was revolting. Without a word, the man started pulling me in the opposite direction of the road, then eventually forced me to sit on the ground, when he then walked off into the darkness. I, again, had no idea where I was.

My only thoughts now were to stay calm, and find out where I was, and where Gerard was, when the sun comes out.

I was in the clearing, right next to the bush with the skeleton.

I sat up and let my eyes adjust to the light, looking around for Gerard, who wasn't there. Had he been here at all? I didn't know. I wonder if he witnessed all that happened last night, or if he even woke up.

He suddenly came strolling out from behind the tall bushes again, heading back over here. By the way he was walking and the look on his face, he was in a good mood. He came over and sat right next to me.

"Good morning, Michael," he said, "How did you sleep last night?" I didn't want to worry him about last night. "Alright," I answered simply, "How about you?"

"Look what started happening," He said reaching his hand up to his head and running his fingers through his hair. When he took them out, they were covered in black powdery, soot like substance.

"My dye is coming out. But this is weird, it doesn't usually come out so… dry." He rubbed his fingers together, causing the powder to spread around. It was true, Gerard always dyed his hair, but it never came out like this before.

I had no word response for him, so we sat in silence for a little while, giving us time to catch up on our situation. We still didn't know what we were going to do to survive. I was still worried about the whole food and water concept, even though, strangely, I didn't feel like I needed it. But then again, it had only been about a day.

There was nothing more to be done in our clearing, so we decided to continue our trip down the road, in case any cars came by again. I still haven't told him about it, I was waiting to see if he would bring it up, or if he even noticed what happened at all. He didn't have to know, though. I didn't want to worry him with the fact that I could've died, twice.

The sun was in our eyes as we walked, I wish I had sunglasses. The only time I actually don't have them I want them. Gerard seemed to be having trouble seeing what was ahead of us too, or he was squinting because he was trying to look cool.

An hour or so later, our first sight of life actually happened. Two turkey vultures where flying in circles a little bit ahead of us. I just hoped that when we passed it we wouldn't have to see something dying. The thought of dying made me remember last night, and the two, most likely, decaying bodies that I didn't know if I saw or not when we were leaving. Then again, it was pitch black; something could have eaten them when we were sleeping. That was an image I didn't need in my head. I went back to focusing on our situation.

I really don't want to die out here.

* (PoV)*

I could hear Jet inside, giving out orders to Cherri and Show Pony. I don't know how he could keep himself in control like that, while being around so much blood. I couldn't, I _always_ had to stay outside whenever someone got injured, or I would end up finishing them off. It's not my fault though, I haven't been a Nomad for more than five years, and I didn't have as much control as Jet. I was still young for a vampire. But being a Nomad, we never had as much control of our blood lust as Venetians, the second most common group of our kind. Jet was lucky to be Venetian; he didn't turn into a savage monster around blood, like I did.

I never saw a DracAttack as violent as I had today. I can't believe how many of us got injured, at least three, which is a lot when you have a small group. At least four of us, excluding me, are able to help the fallen.

Electra got it the worst. I could hear her from out here, as the others tried to make the pain from her wound go away. It was a fatal blow, right in her stomach, from the most I saw of it. I really hope she will be okay, but the most I can do is pray, I don't want to make anything worse.


	4. Chapter 4

4

It's been five days, and my well-being is catching up with me.

I've finally realized my hunger and thirst, and I'm afraid I might be sick from not realizing it for five days. Gerard still seems unaffected, but I wonder if he knows how I'm reacting, I'm a bit slower when we walk every day, and I feel like passing out.

It's nighttime and Gerard wants to continue walking. I don't object, because it isn't as dark as it was on the first night, I can at least see where were walking. I just hope we don't see anybody with, you know, guns.

I just wish I knew the identity of the person who took me back to the clearing. I really shouldn't want to know, though, he did murder someone in front of me; I could smell the blood on him. But he did, technically, save me, and it makes feel like I owe him something.

I think Gerard must be anticipating that we will find something soon. He's walking faster than he usually does, and seems so focused on where we're going. Me? I'm just trying to keep up with him, so I don't get left alone in the desert.

Gerard's hair wasn't that black anymore. But it wasn't going back to its natural colour either, or at least, if his natural hair colour was Blood red. Actually, it was brighter than that; I'll just call it Vampire Red.

I could see the Vampire Red coming out in little streaks through the fading Black. He stopped running his fingers through it a couple days ago, probably because we had no shower and the black powder didn't come out too easily. But as I struggled behind him, those few Vampire Red streaks glowed in the darkness.

I was anxious to see if any cars came by when we were walking. I've only seen the one, and it was at night, so maybe they only came out at night, I don't really know. I just hope we do find some way to get out of here; I really, _really_ don't want to die out here, and most likely get eaten after.

It eventually got as dark as it was on the first night, and by then I was completely exhausted, along with having trouble seeing where I was going. Gerard seemed to be having trouble too, or that's what I thought, when he stopped suddenly, causing me to walk right into his back. He didn't react.

"It's too dark," He said "We'll have to stop until its light again." He said all of this very strangely, like something was worrying him. I didn't question him, though, and I followed the sound that he made when he walked off the road. I couldn't see his hair anymore, so I couldn't tell where he was.

I stubbed my toe on a big rock. That was then followed by me crashing my other leg on a small cactus, which hurt a little. After that, I heard Gerard sigh, then come over and drag me along beside him, always being a caring brother. I didn't mind that he did these small brotherly things, it showed that he cared, and in our position, I don't want him to get angry with me at all, he might leave.

He forced me to sit on the ground, kind of like the mystery guy on night one, then he sat down in front of me and lied down. I did the same, so exhausted I could easily fall asleep, but again I was so focused on our situation. We still didn't know how we got here, and that's what was really troubling. These thoughts soon left, as I fell into a deep sleep.

I woke up from a dream I don't remember just to realize Gerard was gone. I couldn't see the dark shape where he was lying that was there when I fell asleep. He left me in the desert. _Alone_. I couldn't decide if I should go look for him, in case something happened, or if he wanted me to stay. He might've just left a second ago, and wouldn't be gone long, so he didn't bother to wake me. Either way, I was worried.

I sat cross-legged waiting for any signs of life to come by. After five minutes, I got uncomfortable, and nothing made a single sound. I was starting to panic. What if one of those things got him like they almost got me? Okay, I needed to calm down. I think I was starting to hyperventilate.

There. I heard a sound, way off in the distance. It sounded like a dying animal, literally. Was something out there purposely murdering innocent little birds and squirrels? If there were squirrels out here. I lied back down and curled up into a ball, trying to block out the screeches of the creature. I was pretty sure that it wasn't Gerard making those noises, he didn't really screech. I hope he doesn't run into whatever is doing this… killing, though.

The noises stopped abruptly. I'm pretty sure there is a murderer out there. Maybe, if I go to sleep, they'll think I'm dead, and… leave me be.

I woke up with Gerard right in the spot he was when I first fell asleep. I hoped he would wake up soon, because I had some things to ask him about his little… trip last night.

I wanted to get some time to myself just to think everything over, I didn't want to sound angry, or yell at him. I didn't know what he was doing; he might have been going to the washroom for all I know. I stood up, brushed off the sand still on my clothes, and decided to take a little walk of my own to clear my head.

"Where you goin'?" The voice rang out as soon as I walked past him.

I looked down at my older brother, who was squinting to see me through the sunlight. I sat down next to him, putting on a look of complete seriousness. "Where were you last night?"

He looked at me, confused, as he sat up so we could talk straight. "What do ya mean, Mikes? I was here the whole time." He looked at me right in the eyes, and he was a complete liar.

"Really? Because I'm pretty sure that when I woke up, God knows when, you were missing from… where you are now." I said, half awkwardly.

"Mikey, I didn't leave last night. I don't know what you're talking about," He continued. "Why are you coming on to me like this? It isn't like you to just, assume things of me."

I sighed. "It's nothing. I guess I was just… seeing things, last night." I lied back to him. I know that I was not dreaming, because if I was, it wouldn't feel so real. He quickly shrugged it off, then rubbed his eyes and put a hand through his hair, only to shake off the powder after. "We should continue down the road, there's got to be some resource for us. I know were close." He stood up, and headed out towards the road. I sighed, and slowly got up. I know, we had to continue walking if we had any chance of survival, I just wasn't looking forward to passing out from lack of nourishment.

I slowly reached Gerard, and he eyed me suspiciously. "Are you okay, Mikes? You seem kind of… out of it." He asked me. I told him I felt fine. I wasn't going to stop us from moving on today, that would be getting us nowhere. So again, I lied to him, only because he was keeping a huge secret from me.

He crossed his arms while looking at me, as I walked next to him on the road, using all my strength and will power to show that I was fine. It wasn't fun.

That's when I got a close look at his hands. I wouldn't have noticed it if I didn't get a close look, I would've just seen dirt. But I was getting used to seeing hints of red on Gerard. But that was in his hair, not on his hands. He had blood on his finger tips and under his nails. And that's when the major thought hit me:

My brother was the mystery killer.


	5. Chapter 5

5

As we walked, I distanced myself from Gerard. I stayed far behind him, but not so far that he would suspect something. On the outside, I kept my cool, but on the inside, I was scared shitless. My brother killed a guy, without any mercy, and now that I think of it, the mystery guy did look like him, size wise.

He looked back, checking to see if I was still there. Once he got a clear look at me, he turned around again, continuing walking.

I never thought that Gerard would become a killer. Sure, he looked kind of scary, but if you really got to know him, he was the nicest person ever. This wasn't like him; he wouldn't kill a complete stranger for no reason. Unless, he thought that the stranger was going to… hurt me. He has always been protective, and that first guy had a gun.

It wasn't fathomable; Gerard wouldn't kill someone, or something, intentionally. He wasn't the kind of person who enjoyed seeing people in pain; that would be sick, it would be wrong. But nevertheless, I don't want my brother to be heading down a road of crime; that will lead us nowhere.

I have to help him. I have to confront him about this… problem. I know, for a fact, that he is the killer. I don't believe that he could get that much blood under his nails just by getting a scratch. But I know that he wouldn't kill anyone without a reason. Heck, Gerard wouldn't kill anyone, anyways.

*PoV*

Jet and I helped Show Pony bury Electra. She was buried next to one of the only trees in the desert. It was a peaceful area, right behind the diner. But now, with Electra gone, everyone seemed so much sadder, especially Jet, he tried all he could do to save her, but it didn't work. It was her time.

After we finished burying her, Jet, Pony and I went back inside the diner, and sat with Dr. Deathdefying. Now that we lost a killjoy, and two others were wounded, one severely, we had a new issue to work out. If we got attacked again, our chances of survival would be slim. Dr. D was planning to call in a new group from Zone 9 to come and join us.

He left me and Jet alone so he could go do a little thinking on his own. We sat in an awkward silence. I didn't really know what to say, because I know Jet was still feeling sad about losing Electra, we all were. But, I wasn't that good with comforting people, so I kept my mouth shut.

I could hear Dr. D using the radio in the other room. He was contacting the group in Zone 9. Jet sighed, a long, exhausted sigh. He was staring at me.

"You know what this means, right Ghoul?" He said, sounding only slightly tired, compared to his over-dramatic sigh. I knew what this meant. Dr. D calling killjoys from Zones away was going to mean a trip to that zone, to pick them up. We were one of the few killjoy groups that had a transportation vehicle, the majority were destroyed years ago, if they weren't owned by BL/ind.

*PoV*

We were finishing Day 6 out here, resting in another clearing so I wouldn't pass out. Gerard finally realized that I was in no way shape to walk anymore, until I rested, so over my repeated lines of 'I'm fine' Gerard had enough, and literally carried be off the road, and into a new clearing. I still did my best to fight him off, but it was like he had gotten one hundred times stronger than he was before we got here. It was crazy.

He, again, forcefully sat me down in the clearing, where I gave up my act of keeping it cool, and right away lied down, exhausted. Gerard sat beside me, staring, and most likely wondering what he should do, because of the lack of resources. We found no food or water source out here; it was a vast and empty desert.

I still haven't confronted Gerard about this killing concept. I was afraid he might be catching on though, he seemed much more nervous now than he did this morning, he kept on moving his eyes in all sorts of direction, then looking at me with a look that I didn't understand.

I closed my eyes, and let my exhaustion take over me.

*PoV*

I kept looking at Mikey even after he fell asleep, just to make sure nothing would happen to him. I wish I could find a resource, if I don't, he'll die. I couldn't let my baby brother die, it would kill me. I was so protective of him now, even more than when we were at home, because I know that any minute something dangerous could come by and sweep him away, just like they tried to on night one.

I was getting thirsty, and by now I was starting to accept my want for blood. I don't know what is happening; I've become sort of… a vampire, if that's the appropriate term. I don't know what else to call it; I don't sleep, I've been drinking blood, I've felt stronger. But right now there's just a craving for blood, and hopefully one of those monsters comes around so I can drink theirs and not Mikey's.

I left the clearing and my unconscious brother to try and find the scent of one of those masked beasts. They were around here somewhere probably in at least a two mile radius, but coming closer. They wanted something with Mikey and I, but I just couldn't tell what.

I sat down on a big rock, just outside the clearing so I could hunt and keep an eye on Mikey. I tried to get all my senses to focus on this hunting job, because it was harder to hunt in the day than the night. I was less focused during the daytime. I could sense the beast getting closer, but I couldn't tell what direction.

Suddenly, it was right in front of me, it scared the shit out of me, but I didn't have time to worry about it, it attacked me, taking me to the ground, trying to keep me down. Well, I'm sorry; Mr. Monster, but I can kick your ass in five seconds, tops. I did so, pinning it underneath me, then going in for the neck, causing it to admit a disturbing screech. I drank all that admitted from his neck eagerly. It stopped screeching, and relaxed, until I was sure it was dead. I stopped drinking once I had my fill, picked up the body and carried it into a bush, where I not-so-gently dropped it.

I wiped my face of the extra blood, licking it off of my hand as I entered the clearing, seeing Mikey, sitting up and staring at me with an unreadable smirk.

Shit.


	6. Chapter 6

6

This was a seriously convenient moment. I couldn't help but smile, which was probably making Gerard nervous about my reaction. But this saved me from the whole confrontation that I was planning in my head. He just stood there, staring at me with those deer-in-the-headlight eyes. Maybe all I needed was a rest, because my life seems to be, just a _little_ bit easier.

Besides the fact of actually talking to him about my findings.

I sighed, and sat up. Gerard didn't move, which made me laugh. He must be really confused at how calm I am about this whole situation. Does he realize that I kind of figured something was going on, or does he think I suffered a head injury?

I decided to start it casual. "Hi." I said to him.

He didn't answer, but he did move forward, slowly, as if afraid to scare me. I didn't move, I let him come towards me, and kneel down next to me. He just stared at me, it was kind of creepy. I had to kick it up a notch.

"This was a _lovely_ surprise, Gee." I said, sounding almost cocky. He stared at me in shock and confusion, still not saying anything. "Look, Gee, I already figured something was happening."

"How-"he choked out, "How did you find out?" I smirked, and lied back down.

"Well, the first night there was something that smelt of blood, and brought me safely back to the clearing. About your height, your body shape. But it only kicked in about yesterday, when I saw all that blood under your nails. But now I have actual proof that my theory exists, with this little stunt you just pulled now…"

He looked at the ground, seeming ashamed that he couldn't cover it up. I sat up and looked at him, trying to show the in my eyes that I accepted him. "Gee," he looked at me. "I don't care if you drink blood, and don't sleep. I just want you to be honest with me." He then looked at me sad.

He just hugged me, without saying anything, but I knew it was worth more than any words.

"M-Mikey, I promise," He said, "Were gonna get out of here". I nodded, it was the only thing I could do.

We didn't leave the clearing all day, we just lied down and rested although Gerard, being what I presumed to be, a vampire, didn't have to rest. I however, did, and was greatly thankful for it. I think I slept most of the day, or just forgot what I was doing for hours. Gerard didn't leave my side.

I stared at Gerard, taking in all of the changes he received. His hair was almost completely red now, but he looked so much stronger than before, it could be from drinking blood. We've both changed, I, apparently, have purple eyes, and my hair is now blonde/brown. I also realized I can go days without food or water, I am hungry and thirsty, but I'm not dead.

I also learned that Gerard can see in the dark, which is pretty cool. So, that means, we could walk at night, if he lead me. It turns out that the night we tried to walk, he only stopped for me. I wish I could do something for him in return, I feel like I'm in debt.

Even though he already decided that we weren't going to continue walking today, Gerard seemed restless, like he had to go somewhere. He kept walking around the clearing, but never going far. I was getting worried about him. He was normally a pretty chill guy, before we had all this shit to deal with.

*PoV*

I was really worried about Mikey. Something must have happened before we got here, I can't remember what we were doing before we magically appeared in this hell hole, but I'm pretty sure then I wasn't a vampire.

And if I'm a vampire, then what is Mikey? I can tell from the way he has been reacting out here, that he is most defiantly inhuman as well. But, he doesn't seem to have the blood lust I have. His eyes, though, they're so bright… and purple. He didn't used to have purple eyes, did he? Human eyes are never purple. But, he also hasn't eaten in about a week. If he was human, he would be dead.

He was sleeping right now, doing what he has been doing every night we've been out here. He has been acting very strangely when he sleeps, always moving and sometimes making strange animal sounds. If he didn't look happy when he slept, I would have talked to him about this. He never seems to bring this up, if he even remembers what he does in his sleep.

I walked around some more, trying to find answers to my questions. The first, what Mikey was. The second, how the hell we were going to get out of here, I did promise Mikey. And third, what that strange, abnormal smell was.

*PoV*

I woke up suddenly, getting aware of my surroundings. Something wasn't right, I could feel it, and I could _hear_ it. I looked over at Gerard, who was standing very still, possibly feeling the same way I was. I stood up, very slowly and quietly, to get a better listen at the sound. Gerard quietly went to stand on a big rock, very alert, his nose twitching quickly. I kept his sound away from the new sound. It was ragged breathing, coming from close by, I didn't move.

There was a growling sound coming from one of the bushes next to me. It defiantly wasn't a human sound, and I thought that if this thing had to hide from us, it didn't bring us any good news. As quick as I could, I jumped into the bushes.

The mystery thing was much bigger than I expected it to be, but as soon as I made contact with it, it rolled out of the bushes, trying to get me off of it. From what I could see, as we wrestled on the ground, it had the body of a man. It could have been a man, for all I know, but it was wearing what I thought was a mask. I used all my energy I got from adrenaline to pin the monster down, but it was almost as strong as Gerard. It fought with me equally, kicking and punching where it could. It got me twice with its right foot, right in my stomach, but I pounded back, I even used my finger nails to scratch at it.

Suddenly, a strong force pulled me off of the beast. It was Gerard; he threw me out of the way, and then attacked it himself, overpowering it quickly. By the time he was finished with it, it was lying still, drained of all blood. Gerard wiped his face with the back of his hand, and then looked over to me with a glare on his face.

He walked over to where I was sitting, and roughly pulled me up by my jacket collar. He dragged me back into the clearing and sat me down on the big rock he was standing on before.

"Do you realize how dangerous that was?" He said in a calm but firm tone, gripping my shoulders tightly. "That thing could have killed you!" He was getting really worked up now. I personally didn't know what made me attack it, mainly it was impulse. I didn't answer him before he spoke again.

"Look, just don't do it again, you really scared me." I nodded. He then smiled and hugged me, but when he did I flinched. The touch made my ribs hurt. He removed his hands concerned.

I looked down at the spot to see if it was majorly damaged, and thankfully, I didn't see any blood. I lifted up my shirt to see how one of the beast's sharp kicks affected my skin. It was already bruising into a yellow, brown colour, I frowned at it.

By the look on Gerard's face, I could see that he wanted to be worried for me, and as well be upset that I might not be able to walk as much. But of course, being stubborn, I would continue anyways.

eH


	7. Chapter 7

7

It would take about two days to get from Zone 6 to Zone 9. Just in case, Jet and I packed extra ammo, and Show Pony would be with us, but of course, he was mainly a look out.

Jet started up our old Camero after we loaded up everything we needed. In time to starting the car, Show Pony transformed into his swallow form, and was flying around, ready to go.

This would be a long ride.

*PoV*

Gerard and I continued walking, even though we were moving less and less each day. It had been four days since we took down that monster, and so far, we only had gone down the road two miles, at the most. But something was different about today; it was as if something really good was going to happen.

I was still exhausted, malnourished, and overall, weak. But I continued to keep walking. This sensation had me going insane, I had to know what it could be. Whatever the thing could possibly be, I didn't know, but it was defiantly something good.

Gerard kept on getting distracted, so it seemed by the way he was looking around, his nose twitching in every gust of hot wind coming our way. I wonder if he was trying to find something to drink, being a vampire, and all. But then the strangest, and most obvious, thought came to my mind.

"Gee," He glanced at me for a second, and then continued looking around, "if you're a vampire, and I'm, God knows what, why don't you want to drink my blood?" I said this all quite calmly, which, by the look on his face, surprised him. He scratched his head.

"I don't know; maybe because you aren't human, vampires only drink human blood, right?" He responded.

"Well, those monster things you killed didn't look to human." I said, expecting an explanation. He sighed.

"Trust me, when I was drinking it, it tasted pretty human." He said. I held back my look of disgust.

Suddenly he was in the middle of a field, way off the road. In the moment I noticed he left my side, he was looking around in bushes manically. I stopped, and simply turned to face him with the purest look of confusion on my face. Then sighed, and made my way over to him.

"What are you doing?" I said when I got there. He looked up at me with wide eyes, and then continued his search. "It was here" He said, "Damn, it was right here!" He looked all around us, in a hopeless, frustrated way.

"So… what was here?" I asked him, breaking the momentarily awkward silence.

"I don't know," He said simply. Seeing the expression on my face he elaborated. "I really don't know what it is, but it's… it's not good."

I stared at him. So he was getting strange feelings too, but opposite from me, his feelings were bad. Mine felt good, like this thing would save us in some way. But what I was feeling wasn't around here; it was still way down the road.

"What do you mean not good?" I asked him. He was reluctant to answer at first, but then faced me, looking right into my eyes. "It's different then the monsters, I know that, but _more_ human, and I feel as if… it wants us, especially. Like we are the most important thing in this desert, whatever it is though, it was right here…"

I gulped, trying to keep as calm as I could when receiving news such as this. Then what in hell was I sensing? It was much different, that's for sure.

"Gerard… I've been getting strange feelings too… but, they're much different from yours." I told him, and he listened attentively and concerned. "I feel as if something down the road will be able to help us, save us even, for the time being. It's… completely opposite from what you're feeling-"

He took my wrist, and started heading back to the road. "Whatever I am feeling… we should stay away from it." He told me when we reached the road.

"So that's our new plan, head towards my feeling and away from yours?" I asked as he let go of my wrist. He nodded in response, looking hungrily ahead of us, and quickening his pace. I tried my best to keep up with him.

What I was sensing really was the most precious thing we could find out here. We walked what felt like at least four hours, and finally came across what I was feeling.

It was absolutely beautiful. Although a little dirty, she looked surprisingly unharmed. Nothing was damaged on the outside so to see, and as Gerard and I walked closer to her, the more useful she was looking.

"It's a Trans Am," Gerard said quietly, while running his hands along the hood, then looking up at me. "Is this what you were looking for?" He asked me.

I looked down at the Trans Am, taking in every texture I could find. She was in really good shape, not a dent or scratch in sight, and although the paint was completely faded, and she was a dull grey colour, she was stunning.

I nodded, "Yes, this is it." I said. He rubbed some dust off of the window and peered in, squinting his eyes due to the harsh light. He then jiggled with the door handle, trying to pry it open while it was difficult, creating a sound similar to nails on a chalkboard. When the tight fit was evaded, the door swung open easily.

Gerard stuck his upper body in the door slowly, as if something would fly out of it. I could hear him dusting off some more things, like the seats, and the dash. He came back out with an armful of stuff that he must have found inside the car, and then he placed them on the ground.

"Look at these old sunglasses…" He said, holding up an old, but fairly unharmed pair of sunglasses. He put them on his face, and then continued to search through his pile of mainly junk. He found some old pieces of cloth, an old helmet, a boot, and… a white gun. I sat down next to him as he held up the gun to examine it.

"We can use this," He said, running his dirt covered fingers along the smooth, clean surface. "And that helmet, you take it." He handed me the old helmet, and I took it without a word. The outside was all brown and worn, almost like the Trans Am itself. The inside was cushiony, even though it was worn out. But the visor that was attached to it was almost purely unharmed, just like the sunglasses. I ran my fingers along it, leaving a small trail of dust that I carefully wiped off.

Gerard went into the car completely, and settled down in the back seat. I came in after him, looking around at the inside. Personally, it looked like any regular old car, but a strange aura around it made it feel almost new, and ready to be used again. A good thing for us, I suppose. Being the only living creature in miles of this desert, it seemed that this lovely Trans Am was ours.

"At least we won't be sleeping on dirt tonight, right?" I smiled, feeling exhausted, as I curled up in the passenger seat, watching the desert sun go down, and preparing for another cold night. I looked back at Gerard, who was sitting in the seat behind me, watching the sunset. He closed his eyes a little while after, even though he didn't have to sleep.

I was woken up later, when it was completely dark, by Gerard, who was roughly shaking me awake.

"Mikey, c'mon, we have to go." He said. I looked at his calm, but worried, face, and without a word I slipped over to the driver's seat, looking at the ignition. There were no keys in it, but I could tell they were still there. Through the darkness, I felt around on the ground, trying to ignore the small grains of sand and other strange objects.

My hands found a small, cold surface. I picked up the keys quickly, and tested them for the one to the car. When I found it, I jammed it in, and thankfully, the car started right away, as if brand new. Gerard hopped into the passenger seat, and commanded that I drive fast. Without objecting, I listened to him, and drove down Route Guano in our regular direction.

"So," I said to Gerard, "what did you feel?" He was looking behind us, then out the side window, until he faced me. I tried to make eye contact with him while keeping my eyes on the road, but it was hard to concentrate on driving with what he said next.

"It followed us."


	8. Chapter 8

8

I drove until Gerard said we were safe, surprised that the Trans Am had enough gas. As soon as the car made a complete stop Gerard was out the door, pacing around, looking very stressed. I sighed, and went out to him.

"It was there, it was right there…" He said, while running his fingers through his red hair repeatedly. I was really starting to worry about him. "What exactly… is it you feel, Gee?" I asked him.

He shrugged, "I don't know… but it's bad, _really_ bad… and it wants us." I stared at him, my question answered before I had time to open my mouth and ask it. "I don't know why it wants us, maybe because I'm a bloodsucker and you have that… purple eye… thing."

"So… we're unique to them?" He shrugged. "I guess." We stayed silent for a little while, and then he walked back to the Trans Am.

He came back out and gave me the old helmet while he took the white gun and tapped the barrel. I gulped. "Is this potentially dangerous?" I asked him as he was walking back in the direction we just came from. He laughed, "Obviously," he said, "We're gonna kill that fucker."

He looked into the distance, as I caught up with him. His nose was twitching wildly, using his excellent sense of smell to find the thing. I used my most useful sense too, and listened to see if I could find anything.

It was silent for a while, and Gerard and I just stood there, waiting for a sign. Gerard then walked into an area surrounded by tall, pointy bushes. I followed him carefully, listening for any strange sounds.

When I turned the corner Gerard went around, he wasn't there anymore. I stopped where I was and listened for any sign of him, and while there was no familiar sound of him, there was something else.

A deep purring sound, coming from close by. I stayed still, thinking that, it might want me, or Gerard. I searched my eyes around rapidly, still not moving my body, to see if I could spot Gerard anywhere. The bushes didn't help me with my search for Gerard, but I'd say they helped my find the source of the purring, or, what was most likely to be the purring.

A pair of bright, shiny yellow eyes were staring right at me. My heart was thumping rapidly, but I didn't move my position. My instincts told me to run away from it, but, I believed running would make things worse.

The eyes looked human, other than the colour. I have never seen a human with that colour eyes. Then again, you didn't find too many purple eyed humans either. Maybe the… thing… was good, maybe it was like me. If so… then maybe I could talk to it.

"…Hello?" I said quietly to the pair of eyes. The whole face area was shadowed, the eyes shined so brightly. The gold coins went wide when I spoke, as if curious, and shocked. The figure slid a bit closer, as I stood my ground, and as it was about to emerge from the bushes, a red-headed figure jumped in from above, its hair still shining through the shaded plants.

They both came roughly out of the bushes, making me jump back to avoid the wrestling match taking place. Gerard was much taller than the other, who appeared to be a young man, maybe younger than me. He had long black hair that was in front of his face as he wrestled against Gee, while his green vest, black and yellow shirt, and black pants got covered in the desert sand. Gee was getting dusty too, as the other guy pinned him once or twice for a couple of seconds.

I was wondering if I should help or not. But then again, Gerard was now what felt like one hundred times stronger than me, and if the stranger was giving him a hard time, the most I would do is get in the way.

Gerard pulled out the gun when he was firmly straddled on the smaller man. He took the colourless weapon and pointed it directly at the younger one's chest. He stopped fighting against Gerard, and lied in the dirt, panting, while looking Gerard right in the eyes.

"Found you." Gerard said in accomplishment.


	9. Chapter 9

9

The stranger looked up at Gerard with a blank expression, trying his best to ignore the gun that was touching his chest. Gerard glared down at him in pure accomplishment; his eyes looked as if they were staring into his soul.

"Before I kill you," Gerard said breathlessly, "Do you care to tell us why you have been following us?" The stranger looked up at him, his yellow eyes glowing in an eerie way. He then threw out his blank expression, and put on a smirk.

"The strangest thing, I actually thought _you_ were following _me_," the stranger laughed, "well… until you went in the opposite direction, I knew something was up. Now that I actually _see_ you, I can tell you aren't the enemy."

He looked up at Gerard with a look I couldn't read, somewhere between amused and questioning. Gerard looked back at him, his smirk gone, replaced with a frown in confusion. He got up off of the young guy and stepped back, the gun still pointed at him. "Care to explain?"

The stranger sat up and faced Gerard, so his back was to me. I walked around behind Gerard to get a look at his face as he explained. Keeping that smirk on his face, he sighed.

"First of all, you are not wearing white, and by the look at you, Ketchup head, I'd say that if you were one of them, you would be killed. To me you seem like people who escaped the city, if you know, Ketchup, you weren't so strong… I'm gonna get a bruise!"

"Anyways, when I first saw you, I didn't really care; you just looked like two guys who may, or may not be so friendly. My partner and I were resting for the night, and apparently you two were as well, when we were in the little clearing and you were at about the edge of the road. It was Ketchup, from what I could tell, who got up and… went off, into the darkness. That is what… interested me."

His face grew serious, and he looked Gerard right in the eyes. "I know you aren't human, either of you." He glanced over at me, to show that I was involved too.

Gerard looked both angry and confused. "How can we not be human?" He asked the stranger, sounding exasperated. He just laughed and gave Gerard a look of pure humour.

"Don't tell me that hair is natural. Besides, hair dye hasn't been made or found in at least… two years, and Blondie… well, purple isn't very human either." I looked over to Gerard in concern. This guy knew a lot, but I didn't know if we should trust him or not. Gerard just kept the gun pointed at him, staring at him intensely.

"I'm surprised you two even get along… your species haven't in the past," He drifted, causing both Gee and I to create looks of confusion. "And why is that? How can you just… know all this about us?"

He brushed some of the dust off of his pant leg, and then squinted up at Gee. "Well, to answer your second question first, I am like you. First question… nomads and shifters have had a long, _long_ history fighting over the niche… which is strange, being two completely different species-"

"Wait a second, vampires and shifters… so Mikey is a-"

"Yes, Blondie is a shifter."

It was silent for a couple of seconds, as we took in what this guy was saying. I had to break it.

"How do you know?" I asked him. He looked at me with a semi-annoyed expression. He again, sighed. "Our look out is a shifter, I know what they are like, how they react, how they… transform… but I'm not telling you anything, because I'm not one, and it's most likely better to learn from your own species, as every species does."

Gerard took a couple steps forward so he was staring straight down at the stranger. He looked at him with less disgust and more curiosity. H

He lowered the gun slightly, so it was pointed at the man's feet instead of his chest.

"So where does that leave you?" Gerard questioned him, "How are _you_ connected to us?"

"The fact that we are the same species of vampire and… currently we _all_ in the group called Zone Runners, unless you guys step up and try to actually rebel."

"Rebel to what?" I asked him. Magically zapping into a desert left many things uncovered for Gerard and I.

He sighed, and looked at us, "Where the _hell_ have you two been for the past three years?" He looked at us as if we were crazy, "Do you honestly not know _anything_?"

He relaxed a little then spoke again, "Maybe, if we do this on a gentler manner than one with guns and shit, I can tell you guys all that has been going on," He looked up at Gerard, and raised his hands in front of him innocently, "I'm not any harm… well, currently."

Gerard reluctantly lowered his gun, "I still don't see the good idea in trusting a total stranger." He said as the guy stood up, and looked at him with an admirable smile.

"Oh, I'm not _that_ strange, but if you want to know, I go by Fun Ghoul. What's the problem telling total strangers my name? The enemy knows it."

"Who _is_ this enemy?" Gerard asked.

"It's called Better Living Industries, or BLind, as the short form. They started in 2016 but actually started taking control in 2017. When the 2017 bombing happened, it destroyed what was left of the United States and turned it into this _huge_ wasteland of a desert." Fun Ghoul told us as we looked out at the vast space covered with sand.

"Does it ever end?" I asked while looking out in the distance.

"Of course it does, but not for a while. We're in Zone 9, so the closest area of recreation is three zones away. It's an old diner that we stay in when were out in the farther zones, anywhere closer we go to this abandoned garage in Zone 4 to stay in and keep down. We don't usually get noticed there because it's so close to the gas station."

Fun Ghoul was telling us what seemed to be secret information. What if we were this, so-called enemy, Better Living Industries, then he would be telling them his secret hideouts. If I was after him, or anything, the first thing I would look for is his hideout.

"So what exactly does… Better Living Industries do?" Gerard asked.

"Their goal is to make the world 'Perfect'. They make these pills, that they give to you and you just, forget all your worries and become this robot in life… its horrible. There is no fun in life with them, and they have taken over the majority of America, what isn't desert, at least. "

"So you're rebelling?"

"Of course. Blind is evil, and _filled_ with Mortes. We need more killjoys if we'll ever beat them, or, we'll need strong killjoys. But you, Ketchup, we'll of course, _have_ to join us, being a Nomad, and all."

Fun Ghoul sighs. "Mortes: a Nomads worst enemy. They are just pure evil, it's not even funny. They're so strong, fast, and deadly. They could kill us in minutes, Blondie in seconds."

That was reassuring.

"Of course, the Dracs aren't Mortes, only the top S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W…" Fun Ghoul trailed off.

Neither Gerard nor I responded to him, and when we reached the Trans Am, Fun Ghoul's mouth dropped open. "You have a car?"

He went over to the Trans Am and ran his hand along the hood like Gerard did. Gerard's face was stone, as he watched this strange man examine our car oddly.

"How in _hell_ do you two have a car? You just walked up and found it?" Fun Ghoul laughed.

His laughter changed to shock at the fact that we did just walk up and find it. He looked us up and down, and without another word, continued looking at the car.

"It's in perfect shape to get us to Zone 6. I have to take you guys back to the base, that's just it. So let's hop in! Who's driv-"

"I am." Gerard said, cutting him off and quickly hopping in the seat. "You can tell us where to go."

Fun Ghoul lifted his arms and shrugged, hopping in next to him. I crawled into the back awkwardly.

"Straight down the road."


	10. Chapter 10

10

We drove down the road as fast as the Trans Am could go, once again. This time, what we were running away from was with us, sitting shotgun. Gerard was driving, with Fun Ghoul next to him giving directions to his base. I sat in the back, awkwardly sitting in the middle because we had no designated seats.

Fun Ghoul was sitting quietly when he didn't need to give directions, which was more than half of the time, giving the straight road through an empty desert. He looked kind of depressed, maybe he really wanted to drive. Gerard wouldn't allow it, a complete stranger to drive his 'baby'.

"I still have to find my partner," Fun Ghoul said out of the blue. Gerard looked over at him with an 'are you serious' expression.

"Great, now we have to pick up another…" Gerard said quietly, but loud enough for both of us to hear. Fun Ghoul just smirked.

"Hey, I could of let you die out there… then again, vampire so…"

Gerard rolled his eyes. "Why did you leave him in the first place?" Fun Ghoul smirked again.

"From vampire to vampire, let's just say I had some business to take care of, and if I went with my partner, we'd kill each other." Gerard stayed silent.

It felt like I stepped into a dream. Vampires. Vampires actually existed. Vampires… and Shifters? As in Shape Shifters? I guess that was cool. Vampires can't attack animals, so I guess I'm half safe.

"So if vampires exist, what about, like, werewolves and zombies?" I asked Fun Ghoul. He glanced back at me with a smile.

"Don't be ridiculous," He said while… giggling, "Werewolves…" He giggled some more. I sat back.

"There!" Fun Ghoul pointed out the window. There was nothing I could see in that direction, but both he and Gerard seemed to notice.

"That is a bird, Ghoul." Gerard said tiredly.

"I _know._ Follow him, he'll lead the way." Fun Ghoul said, causing Gerard to sigh. I still couldn't see any bird, but as we got closer, there was a small, dark, creature in the sky. We drove faster, following the bird, which was incredibly fast for such a small thing.

The bird didn't grow tired, and neither did the Trans Am. The little thing was way ahead of us when it touched the ground, and disappeared behind what I thought was a rock at our distance.

"Faster!" Ghoul shouted, sitting up on the seat. As we got closer I realized that the rock was an oddly shaped car, the same colour as the Trans Am, a brownish, common desert colour. Gerard stopped shortly from where the other car was, and before it stopped completely, Ghoul opened the door and was on his way over to the bird, which flew towards him and landed on his shoulder.

Gerard and I came out of the car the same time as a different person came out of the other car. He was taller than Fun Ghoul, me, and Gerard. He was wearing a black jacket with black jeans. It was surprising that he wasn't sweating, even I was.

"Jetty!" Fun Ghoul yelled and tackled the guy into a hug, who awkwardly hugged back. They began talking in hushed tones when the other person looked over at Gerard and I. The little bird flew off of Fun Ghoul's shoulder and sat on the hood of the car, facing us.

It didn't act like a regular bird. Regular birds would fly away when people were around, unless it was a pet. But pet birds would fly away if outside, wouldn't they? It didn't move, and it didn't make a sound. It was creepy.

Fun Ghoul and the other person kept on glancing over to us. We stood over by the Trans Am, not wanting to interrupt their conversation about us. The stranger was facing us, talking fast to Fun Ghoul, and shooting questionable glances at Gerard and I every now and then.

They walked over to us, allowing us to get a closer look at the stranger. His jacket had a playing card on its right sleeve. It also had some strange symbol on the front in red. Overall, it was a nice jacket. He was wearing sunglasses, so we couldn't see his eyes, and moreover, his facial expression.

"Um… this is Jet Star" Fun Ghoul introduced. "Jet this is…uh…"

"Gerard," Gee said, observing the newest stranger. So we actually were supposed to trust these people, even with their odd, completely fake names. Jet Star nodded to Gerard.

"I'm Mikey," I said, sizing up Jet Star. No nod for me, but he seemed to be doing the same as I was.

He looked over at Fun Ghoul. "You've been with them for hours, and you never ask for their name? Fun Ghoul looked down.

"So according to dumbass, here, you guys can be trusted…" Jet Star said, receiving a look from Fun Ghoul.

"They can, Jet. I didn't have to point them at all."

That was an awkward sentence. Does he mean, point, as in a gun? I looked down Fun Ghoul and, mentally slapping myself for not noticing, he had a green, toy-looking gun in a holster. So the whole time he could have killed us. Huh. I guess we really should trust them. Maybe Gerard noticed this.

"We shouldn't make them wait too long," Jet Star gestured to the other car. Inside of it, there were three other people, all guys, who waited impatiently.

"Yeah… we'll catch up back at the base… um… I'll go with them." Fun Ghoul said. Jet Star nodded and walked over to the car and the bird. Fun Ghoul, Gerard, and I got in and drove off behind Jet Star, wondering where this would leave us.


	11. Chapter 11

11

We pulled up outside an old diner.

"We're here!" Fun Ghoul said happily as he got out of the Trans Am. I got out and gazed up at the building. It looked well used, that's for sure. Two if the letters in the word 'Diner' were gone, too, so it spelled 'Die'… making everything much more reassuring.

Gerard and I were still standing there staring at the diner as everyone else was going inside. Fun Ghoul was leaning on the doorframe, waiting for Gerard and I.

"C'mon… we don't have all day," he said, gesturing into the diner, "this way to Narnia, bitches!" He said, putting a puzzled face on Gerard, and with a little bounce he walked into the diner.

I warily entered the diner, trying to avoid the big group of people. It was like a party, but I guess this is what to expect at a base. Gerard walked in after me, and as soon as he stepped into the diner, heads turned our direction.

It was uncomfortable to be the cause of a sudden silence, and to have these strangers staring at us. Thankfully for me, the majority of them seemed to be looking at Gerard. It might have been the hair.

We must have looked like hell. We were lost in the desert for days. I haven't eaten since we got there, it was bad at first, but I'm not as hungry as I was the first days. Weird.

Out of the crowd waddled an older-looking, bearded man. He wore sunglasses, even indoors, and wore a dark jacket just like Jet Star did. He was shorter than both me and Gerard, and by the way he looked, Gerard and I were _much_ younger. He stuck his hand out to me.

"I don't believe we've met," said the stranger as I shook his hand. He then reached his hand out to Gerard. "I'm Doctor Death Defying."

Again with the names!

"Why don't we all go somewhere a little more private?" He asked us. There were a number of thoughts going through my mind at this moment, so I just said nothing. Gerard and I followed him through the now calmed crowd, which were mostly people sitting in booths. We were heading to what seemed to be the back of the diner.

The Doctor gestured to Fun Ghoul and Jet Star to come to the back room with us. They glanced at each other, possibly talking in a secretive way like Gerard and I do sometimes.

We sat down in a cleared out storage room, which now had a desk and some chairs in it.

"So… may I ask you your names?" Dr. Death Defying asked Gerard and I as we settled down in the uncomfortable chairs. The room smelt incredibly musty, and everything was a dull brown colour, unlike the main part of the diner, which was filled with colourful things and colourful people. I took time off from my distraction and answered the Doctor's question.

"Um…" I looked over at Gerard, silently asking him if we were still to trust them. Our eyes met for that split second, "I'm Mikey-"

"And I'm Gerard." Gerard said calmly and forcefully.

Dr. Death Defying pursed his lips and stared at us. He looked over at Gerard, "You have a jacket?" Gerard shook his head, staring back at him. "We have to get that sorted out… or else you don't get a name…"

He stood up and walked out of the room as Gerard, Jet Star, Fun Ghoul and I exchanged glances. Soon we realized that we might want to follow him. Gerard and I were at a loss to where we were supposed to be headed. Luckily Fun Ghoul and Jet Star were there, and seemed to know exactly where the Doctor was headed.

The four of us walked out of the diner and towards the back, with Fun Ghoul leading the way. At the back of the diner, there was a garage-like building. It was big enough to fit at least two regular sized cars. We walked into the garage.

It looked similar to the diner, but with less people and more old furniture. The diner looked well used, but still clean. This looked like a very dirty garage, with a desk filled with equipment of some sort, a small cupboard, and a shelf filled with average garage items.

The Doctor was over by the cupboard. He took out of it a big pile of… what seemed to be different multicoloured jackets. He placed them down on the old shelf and glanced over at Gerard, gesturing over to him. Gerard walked over and looked at the jackets.

"Pick whichever one appeals to you." The Doctor said to Gerard. He raised an eyebrow, and then began fishing through the jackets, looking for any one that was actually tasteful. He picked up a filthy yellow jacket and disgustedly looked over at the Doctor.

"They've never been used, as far as I know." The Doctor said.

Gerard held up a blue jacket with a red symbol on the back. "This one's good," He said and nodded.

The doctor's eyes lightened up and he stared at Gerard more interestingly. Gerard, without noticing the Doctor, slipped on the jacket to find a perfect fit.

The Doctor's eyes then went wide. He looked Gerard up and down as Gerard still examined the jacket.

"Party Poison," The Doctor said. Gerard looked over at him with a confused look on his face. Fun Ghoul and Jet Star also exchanged glances of amazement. The Doctor looked over at Fun Ghoul and Jet Star.

"Get Pony, Cherri, and Sparx. Meet us in the diner." The Doctor said as he lead Gerard and I out of the garage and back to the diner. I looked over at Gerard, who looked back, clearly at a loss for what was going on, too.

The diner was cleared out between the time we left and returned from the garage. The only ones in here were Fun Ghoul, Jet Star and other people who must be a part of their clan. I looked back towards the garage. Fun Ghoul and Jet Star were still behind us when we left the garage… how did they beat us here?

The Doctor led us over to the big table where the others were and we all sat down at a big table in the centre. I sat in between Gerard and Jet Star, across from The Doctor and Fun Ghoul.

"Party Poison," The Doctor said to Gerard, "you are the one we've been waiting for."

He said nothing more, just stared at Gerard. The person on the opposite side of The Doctor had a questionable expression. He almost glared at Gerard, staring at him so intently. He was different too, with his eyes pure black… and empty looking. He was giving me a bad feeling… like the opposite of the car.

"What do you mean?" Gerard asked, his face stone, "What's so special? What the hell is Party Poison?"

The person beside The Doctor sighed.

"This may sound a little unbelievable, but we have never found anyone who fit perfectly into that jacket. Not that it's a "magic" jacket or anything, but… the first Killjoy ever said to the followers, that whoever could fit into this jacket would make a revolution."

The guy beside The Doctor scoffed, which was ignored. "Then again, we all thought that the saviour would be… human. But this way… we have an advantage.

"Advantage?"

"BL/ind has mostly humans. But they do have a horrible advantage by having they're sickening creation, Mortes."

"Thanks, Doc." The person beside The Doctor said while glaring at him. The Doctor looked to him.

"I wasn't talking to _you_."

"Wait, what are Mortes?" I asked. The other person answered.

"Vampires created by BL/ind. Most of the industry is full of them. The first ones created were completely technological, but the fact that they could reproduce gave them human characteristics, such as emotion. They're main point in life was to kill. They are the current strongest type of vampire known to this date."

Gerard looked closer at the other person. He squinted his eyes, and then they went wide.

"Don't worry, I'm on this side." The man said. He looked almost completely human, but if he was a "Morte", than it will be hard to tell who is and isn't.

"But Ghoul here is the same as you, Nomad." The Doctor continued.

Fun Ghoul grinned, "It's not that hard, there are a lot of bonuses to being a Nomad. We're the fastest vampire."

"Yes, we could all discuss our different species but right now we have things to work on. Right so we need to get you two a gun…" The Doctor said.

Wait… we got guns?


	12. Chapter 12

12

Life at the base was quite interesting. This group called themselves 'Killjoys', to make a mockery of their enemy. Gerard, or as I'm supposed to call him, Party Poison and I had to go through a lot of training. We got to use guns. I would think that's cool if it didn't involve that we had to use them to kill people.

"They're not people," My trainer, Show Pony, told me, "they're Draculoids or Mortes. The humans don't fight."

Show Pony was training me because he was also a shape shifter. You would be able to tell if he took off his sunglasses or helmet once in a while, but he never does. Maybe he doesn't like people to see his eyes. He was who I was supposed to go to with any questions.

Fun Ghoul was training Gerard because they were both Nomads. I don't know exactly what he was being trained to do for that.

Show Pony was teaching me how to actually shape-shift. He showed me his form, which was the little bird we saw in the desert. He was some sort of tiny Swallow, which are fast birds. I guess the animal we turn into represents us somehow.

"So, do we only turn into one thing?" I asked Pony when he came back to human form.

"Sadly, Yes. We turn into the animal that mostly represents our behaviour and strengths."

"And where do our clothes go?"

Show Pony pondered this for a while, "I really don't know. We just appear in human form with them on. At least it's kept G rated."

"We'll have to start on the actual training to turn into an animal soon. The later on you learn how the harder it is to transform. How long exactly have you been a shifter?" He asked me.

"Um… a week, tops?" I said, "I'm not sure, exactly." Pony frowned.

"You don't know?" I shook my head. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"So… what, you just magically became a shape-shifter? It doesn't work that way.

"I don't remember," I shrugged, "How _do _you become a shape-shifter anyway?"

He sighed and sat down. "Well, it's complicated. Some are born shape-shifters, but the majority are bitten. Like vampires, our teeth are venomous when we aren't in animal form."

The thought of someone biting me was kind of sickening. I don't think I have a scar from being bitten though, and I didn't see anything the first day in the desert. But I must have been a shifter then, my eyes changed colour.

"What's the deal with the eye colour?" I asked Pony.

He looked up at me. "The change of eye colour shows to the world that you aren't human. The majority of beasts, like us, and vampires, have changes to their eye colour. Ours stays one strange colour, while vampire's eyes go black when they are hungry and yellow when they aren't. It's kind of a warning to everyone else."

"What can't the vampires… eat?" I asked Show Pony.

"Well… other vampires, obviously, as in Nomads, Venetians, and Mortes. Basically everything else they can eat."

Of course. Everything has blood in it except vampires… and plants.

"And vampires aren't vegetarians." I said to myself out loud, receiving a strange look from Show Pony.

"Focus, Kobra."

Ugh. My name was awful. Not cool in the slightest. At least he wasn't calling me 'Kid' that sounded even worse. I'm not a kid.

Kobra Kid.

"Alright, you can't start shifting right away, but, you'll know when you can start. Your body will randomly feel sore in certain spots where changes happen with your animal. So you might feel sore where you get ears, claws, and, maybe, a tail."

That might end awkwardly.

"You also might get headaches or the occasional thought to do something crazy or stupid. That's because your brain is preparing to be in an animal body."

That might explain the time I jumped on that thing in the desert.

"Any more questions?" Show Pony asked me.

"It doesn't hurt, does it?"

"Not much. The more you do it the less it hurts." I pondered what he said and smiled to myself.

Show Pony and I walked up to the cliff a little while away from the diner. It had an absolutely amazing view of the desert, and from up there, the desert didn't look as evil as it actually was. I looked up at the huge tree that was near the edge. It was the first living vegetation I saw since day one.

I had to stop my sightseeing to start my killjoy training.


	13. Chapter 13

13

"What the _fuck_ is that?"

Show Pony brought out this ugly-ass, mauled, destroyed body.

"It's a practice dummy," Show Pony said, sticking the doll against the big tree.

"It's fucking ugly that's what it is." I said.

"It's not supposed to be pretty. It's supposed to represent a Draculoid."

So faceless and charred are what Draculoids look like.

"Shooting practice."

I took out my gun from the holster. It was a really nice gun. They gave me one of my own like the one Ger- Party, found. They then spray painted them with different colours and patterns. Mine was red. Ghoul, Jet, Party, and I all had our own colours. We were like the Wiggles, but without purple.

Everyone's gun had colours. The Doctor's was Black, Sparx' was Orange, Pony's was White and Blue, and Cherri's was White and Pink.

"Now, you've never shot a ray gun before, so just let me explain," said Show Pony, "It shoots out rays, hence the name 'ray gun'. As soon as it hits the target, the ray disappears leaving just a harsh burn mark. If you don't have the right healing equipment, than a burn from these could kill you in days."

"The ray comes out with a real powerful force. First time I fired it almost knocked me off my feet. You have to hold it as steady as you can." Pony said. I held up my gun, aiming it at the dummy.

"Oh, and wear these." Show Pony tossed me a pair of brown leather gloves.

"So you don't get burned."

I nodded and put on the gloves. They were a little big, but I was still capable to use them.

I took the gun and aimed it at the dummy. My finger lightly glided along the trigger until I found a spot to hold the gun steady. I held my hand steady.

I pulled the trigger.

A bright, white light came out of the gun with such force that I had to take a step back to brace myself. The light was only there for a couple of seconds, and with the fact that I closed my eyes due to the brightness, I only saw a small burnt mark on the tree, right above the dummy's head.

"Nice shot," Show Pony said, "my first time shooting was that one right there." He pointed to a burn mark in the tree that was hidden by leaves. Now that I noticed, the tree was covered in these marks.

"Everyone learns to shoot here," Show Pony said, basically reading my mind. "That's why this tree has so many holes. It's almost as if it's immortal, it's been here as long as Sparx has."

"And how long has he been here?"

"Well," Show Pony started, "He's kind of a Morte, so… he's about a hundred and… eight?"

"So all vampires are immortal… are we?"

"When you reach eighteen."

I tried shooting the dummy a couple more times, getting a grip on the gun and its power. On about the sixth time I shot, I finally hit it right in the chest.

"Nice job," Show Pony said, "Not bad for a-"

Pony got distracted by something towards the diner. I turned around to see what he was looking at.

Two long white cars were parked in front of the diner. My view was blocked by the diner, but just beyond it I could see flashes of bright light flying in the air, just like the little bird flying past my head.


	14. Chapter 14

14

It was chaos back at the diner. Rays were flying through the air, bright, coloured ones coming from killjoys and plain white ones coming from Draculoids.

I've never seen one during the day, at least when I could tell what it was. They looked like people, with a mask over their head that resembled the monster that they acted as. There were so many of them, I couldn't count all of them.

Show Pony was human again, and joined Fun Ghoul, shooting down one out of the two that were after him. I took out my gun and held it steady in my hand. Some of the other killjoys were against the wall of the diner like I was, shooting where they could reach.

Jet Star was dealing with a couple Dracs at a time, with one shooting at him and two coming up behind him. The one shooting had a horrible shot. Jet shot it down quickly enough and turned to see the two behind him. I took my chance, coming more into the open and shot at the one closer to me.

I hit it, I actually hit it, and it fell. Dead. For some reason I didn't feel any mercy for it. After Jet Star finished off the other one he looked over at me to see where the shot came from. He met my eyes and gestured over for me to join him.

"Glad you could join," He said, "Nice shot," I thanked him quickly, as his back was to mine. We guarded each other as we shot, as Party and Ghoul were currently doing. Pony and Sparx were around the entrance to the diner, protecting it from Dracs, while shooting at the ones who approached.

It was easy to tell that we were winning, and as I shot at as many as I could while getting the hang of shooting quite quickly, I kept glancing at Party, who was a natural.

He was very fast at shooting, and could move from one Drac to another in a matter of seconds. Then again, he wasn't hitting as much as Fun Ghoul, who was a bit slower, but more exact.

There were only four Dracs left, which soon became three with help of Sparx' hidden angle. Only a couple minutes later did the final Drac fall from getting hit by Sharp Shooter Fun Ghoul's ray.

Once it fell, all guns were lowered and put away. Almost instantly, things were back to normal.

"C'mon, guys, get 'em while they're hot!" Fun Ghoul called to Party and Jet. Jet patted me on the shoulder before running off to a Drac, picking it up, and carrying it behind the diner, just as Party and Ghoul were doing too. Disgusting.

Though three Drac bodies were already taken away, they still littered the ground around the rest of us who fought them. I ignored them as I walked back into the diner, because frankly, I didn't give a damn. They could rot out there as long as they want, I'm sure they'll be put to use by the vampires.

Back in the diner, everyone was calm and getting back to normal. I guess that happens quite a bit, but at least no one got hurt. Show Pony was taking out a couple cans of Power Pup to celebrate the victory.

I've only ever eaten Power Pup once or twice, but that was because it was fucking disgusting. It actually was dog food, with pictures of dogs on the can hence the name Power 'Pup'. I felt bad for the humans, and the fact that they had to eat that shit to live. I didn't have to eat, it felt good to eat, but I can survive without dog food. Whatever dog would eat that must be pretty stupid. Or just a dog, all dogs are kind of clueless.

I stepped out on the porch at the front of the diner. It was a little bit away from the door, but for some reason the porch felt like the most comfortable spot out here. Definitely not the prettiest, what from all the dirty killjoys walking out here, but definitely one of the best, other than Shooting Hill.

The Drac bodies were almost gone now. It's amazing how quick vampires can be when they're hungry, but I doubt they drank it all; they probably saved the majority for later.

Speaking of which, Party, Ghoul, and Jet came around the corner, all looking happy and satisfied. I nodded at them as they joined me on the porch, Ghoul lighting a smoke and leaning back in one of the shitty chairs we had out here. I sat on the railing, looking out at nothing, which was easier now that I got a pair of sunglasses. We all just stood there, waiting for nothing, the silence far from awkward.

Pony popped out of the doorway, fighting helmet off and relaxed. "Hey," He said to us, "Dr. D's calling a meeting for us."

Even in the middle of nowhere, meetings were unavoidable.

Ghoul sighed and put out the cigarette as all of us went into the diner. The celebration seemed to be over, at the most. Everyone who fought was now relaxing in booths.

The four of us went to the back of the diner, where there used to be what looked like a kitchen. It was big and roomy, but was being filled with many different objects of any variety. The Doctor was standing in the middle of the room, next to a table filled with boxes.

"We finished searching the car you came in," The Doctor said. That was funny; I never knew they were searching the car. "It seemed that it once belonged to a different sort of zone runners, maybe lowers killjoys, or maybe people on the run from the city. Nevertheless, we found some pretty useful things that have officially been killjoy-ized."

The first thing The Doctor pulled out of the box he tossed straight to me with such force, I was knocked backwards a step. I looked down to see that it was that old, ugly helmet, but it wasn't so ugly anymore. It was freshly painted a bright yellow, with many different coloured stripes of red, blue, green, and black. It had a new, scratch-less visor as well, with big block letters that said 'GOOD LUCK'.

I hope that wasn't any sign. That might take some getting used to see through. But still, "Wow,"

"You would be amazed what we can do with a couple cans of spray paint," The Doctor chuckled.

"And the last thing," The Doctor said while digging through the box, "Here," He handed over a small, yellow mask to Party. Party took it and looked at it. It had three blue circles, two on the cheek and one on the forehead, along with two diamonds going through each eye.

"Your identity is incredibly important. If BL/ind sees your face, they can generate a picture of you, clear as day, without even have seeing you closely. Their technology is incredible. It's in the eyes; your eyes have to be covered. The holes in the mask will let you see, but they can't see you clearly."

That was all The Doctor wanted to give us. Apparently, Fun Ghoul and Jet Star already got stuff. Jet star got a helmet too; it looked like one an astronaut would wear. Fun Ghoul got a monster mask. That would be hot out in the desert, and hard to see out of. He likes it anyways.

I walked back out on the porch when we were all done in there. The others stayed in, having a conversation with Sparx and Cherri. I didn't mind being out here on my own, though. It seemed that I was growing more and more independent.

I looked out at the never-ending desert noticing nothing much but sand and shrubs. I wonder how we even survive out here, even the vampires. If the enemies didn't come around once in a while, then I guess they would be eating us, mainly the humans.

Then out in the sand, fairly close by, something moved. It happened so fast I almost didn't see it, and as I was looking now I couldn't see anything. I guess my eyes were playing tricks on me, the bastards. I was sure I saw something though. It was tiny, whatever it was.

Then I saw it again, the smallest brown mouse, definitely not native to the desert, was trying its best to hide itself in the sand, I could see it, though. I could _sense_ it, too. I wonder how it got out here it's not a desert mouse, it's one of those small brown ones you see in pet stores, I think. It looks like you could keep it as a pet.

I looked at it closer, it wasn't moving from its spot, it could have been staring right back at me, making sure I don't come after it. But then I saw the most peculiar thing I've ever seen to this date, and I've seen many peculiar things out here.

The little brown mouse had big orange eyes.


	15. Chapter 15

15

The first thing going through my mind was

_Holy shit._

The second thing was

_I have to kill it._

As quick as I could I drew out my gun and shot at the mouse. It created a cloud of dust that surprisingly was quite large. It might have been the force of the ray. I stood still as the dust cleared and looked around to see if I got the shifter.

It was gone.

A complete miss, no gore, no nothing. I could still sense it, though. It was still here.

I tried to follow the sense, just like when we were lost in the desert. This one was not a good feeling. I kept my gun in my hand, ready to shoot any second. I carefully tried to follow where the feeling was headed; it was moving around, coming closer, than farther, and over again. It was trying to confuse me.

It was right under the porch now. I questioned just sticking my gun underneath and shooting randomly, but stopped when I realized that was a very stupid idea. It was running underneath the diner, and I know just where it was headed.

I ran around the other side of the diner as quietly as I could and pressed up against the back of the diner. There was an awful smell of death, but that was because of the five Drac bodies that were almost directly in front of me, lying there to rot or get eaten by vultures.

I looked down at the hole in the diner foundation. I assumed it was dug out by some small creature, maybe rats, a while ago, it wasn't a natural hole. I stayed quiet for a little while until I heard the tiniest sound of scampering and little claws running along the foundation.

It ran out of the tunnel, not looking back at the diner. It wasn't that fast, and with its small legs, I could easily have stomped on it. Something about me was saying I shouldn't do that, though. I slowly crawled on top of the dead Dracs and dug my feet into one's stomach. When the shifter was right in the perfect spot, I jumped off of the pile of carcases and landed, with my hands cupped, over the shifter.

It began to panic, trying to find a way out of my hands. It tried to bite me, but couldn't through my gloves. Too bad it couldn't transform. What I learned is that if there isn't enough space for your human form to fit, than you can't transform there, even if my hands could move.

I trapped the shifter in my hands and stood up, heading back to the diner. It was still squirming around when I entered. It was squeaking loudly now, possibly knowing that we were inside.

The squeaking caught the attention of Fun Ghoul, who was lounging in a booth. He stood up and walked over with a confused look on his face.

"You got a bowl or something?" I asked him.

He snorted, then grinned and walked over to the kitchen area. He came back with a clear, glass bowl. I put my hands on the main table, still cupping around the shifter, and let go.

As soon as I let go, I pulled my hands away as Ghoul slammed the bowl down on the table, trapping the shifter. It was a fairly heavy bowl, and a small mouse couldn't move it if it tried.

Fun Ghoul and I looked at it closely. He stared at it with a bored expression.

"Congrats, Kobra," He said, "You caught a mouse."

I sighed. "It's not a mouse."

He looked at me like I was an idiot, "Are you high?"

"Look," I said, "The eyes." He looked closer at the mouse, his face scrunched up in confusion. His eyes then went a little wider and his face softened. "They're-"

"Orange."

Ghoul looked at me, then back at the mouse a couple times. He looked at my eyes and the mouse's, both odd colours, and solved it out in his head.

Ghoul then called for Show Pony, obviously the expert. A couple seconds later Show Pony rolled in on his pair of roller blades. His helmet was off now, being indoors, but the sunglasses were there, as always. He looked at us, expecting a good reason for being called in. Then he looked down at the table, noticing the bowl and the mouse.

"Seriously?" He glanced at Ghoul, then pulled up a chair and sat down, looking at the mouse. He then looked at it closer; pulling his sunglasses down for about a second, not long enough for me to see his eyes.

"Shifter," he said quietly, he looked back up at Fun Ghoul.

"Where did you find it?" Ghoul pointed at me. I answered as I sat down at the table.

"Right outside, next to the cars."

The next thing Pony did was quick and simple. He took out his gun and held it firmly as he lifted up a side of the bowl. Before the shifter could notice what he had done he pulled the trigger.

The bowl was filled with a bright light and a lot of smoke and blood. It didn't shatter, to my surprise. He just so happened to blow up the mouse when Jet Star and Party Poison walked in the room.

Jet Star looked at the bowl like it was a completely normal thing. Party Poison was oblivious for a while, and then noticed the bowl. He looked at me with confused eyes, and then looked back at the bowl of mouse organs.

"It was a spy." Show Pony said. He then rolled out of the diner and back into the kitchen area. Party looked back at me and met my eyes.

I knew he had something very interesting to say to me.


	16. Chapter 16

16

Party and I went to the small storage room, where he wanted to tell me something. It must have been important; I could see it in his eyes. He ignored the chairs that were there and looked out the small, dusty window in the room.

"Lately I've been doing some thinking…" He started, still looking out the window. I didn't say anything, but waited for him to continue.

"I've been wondering whether we are on the right side or not." He sighed. I looked at the back of his head like he was crazy. He turned around, looking back at me with a very serious expression.

"What makes you think so?" I asked.

"I was going along with what they were doing, but, they just killed those guys like they were nothing! They were people, and we killed them, and everything is fine?"

"But-"

"And I know I have to kill people to survive, but what about you? You didn't have to kill them but you did. And we don't even _know_ who the enemy is so they might be nice after all."

"Yeah, but-"

"Maybe we _are _the bad guys! We're fighting against an entire city so that would make us the lower."

"I guess-"

"And who knows? Maybe they'll be kind to us and accept us and let us relax and live _normal_ lives. I can tell that this isn't normal-"

"Party!"

He stopped talking at my outburst. It was about time.

"You do realize that if it wasn't for these people, we would be dead."

"But we don't die-"

"Something would have killed us, it's obvious. But these people have been kind to us and took us in, so how could you even _think_ about leaving?"

He sighed frustrated.

"We can't just leave."

"I know we can't just leave!" He said exasperatedly, "I just… don't know what to think of these people!"

"Give it time, Party." I said calmly, "You'll come to a conclusion soon enough."

He sat down in one of the chairs with a sour, frustrated and confused look on his face. I got the feeling that the conversation was over, so I turned to leave.

"What about the mouse?"

I turned back around. "What about it?"

"Well, if it was a shape-shifter, than he killed his own kind, doesn't that-"

"No."

I walked out of the room. I trusted these guys, and if Party didn't, then that was his problem, he'll have to deal with that himself.

Nobody was talking in the dining area. It was a bit of an awkward silence. I stood around for a little before deciding to go outside to the porch. I guess today was now a lazy day.

I don't know how long I sat there on the porch until Sparx came around the corner. He looked worn out, which was strange for any kind of vampire. He looked at me without saying anything, then slipped a cigarette and lighter out of his pocket and relaxed. I acknowledged his presence, but said nothing.

He left not long after. I think that was the longest we were ever in the same room for, even if we are outside. He's possibly one of the most strange and interesting person I've ever seen.

My mind was still on Party. I wish I could understand what was going on with him right now. Was he feeling guilty of something? Or was he just frustrated? I didn't know.

I just hoped everything would turn out alright.

**Kind of a filler. The next chapter will be longer. **


	17. Chapter 17

17

We've been out here for a total of four months.

It's been strangely quiet. Lately, Dracs haven't been coming by as often, but when they did, battles usually lasted only a couple of minutes.

Party Poison got over his little dramatic problem. Being out here, he quickly made it up to one of the Doctor's side men, and acted as the leader to our little group of four.

Jet Star, Fun Ghoul, Party Poison and I were the only remote ones that stayed at the diner. The closest killjoys that stayed here for most of the time were Show Pony and Sparx Bruiser. They were more secretive, though, and kept to themselves, just as we did.

Don't get me wrong, we all exchanged information. But some things certain people like to keep to themselves, and being what felt like a family, we all respected each other's wishes.

The four of us were out for most of the day. We usually drove around, usually down to Zone 5 and further. The gas station was in Zone 5. We paroled the desert like we ran the joint. Sometimes, when we got closer to the Battery City, we would see people that were escaping. I felt sorry for them sometimes, but I knew we couldn't help them, the only thing we could do is put them out of misery.

We got a sort of reputation in the Zones. I heard what some Zone Runners called us, the Fabulous Four, names like that. I thought it was kind of funny, yet interesting at the same time. We really weren't as menacing as everyone thought, or at least people who don't know us. We were only menacing with our guns out.

Show Pony said he was finished teaching me a week or so back. Some time I will be able to transform, just hopefully it won't happen in a battle. I've been growing more curious every day. What would I turn into? I kept imagining myself as something incredible and tough. Maybe I'll be some sort of bird, like Show Pony, or maybe I'll be something cool, like a wolf. Wait, wolves wouldn't be so good in the desert, more like a coyote. I was nervous yet excited and worried all at once.

We just got back from our daily drive through the Zones. We left quite early this morning, right when the sun was rising, to keep it safe. When we got back, it was only around midday. Sparx and Pony were in the dining area. They let themselves in, with the fact that we had no locks. We acknowledged them, and they looked over at us for a second, and then went back to doing nothing.

We were going through a tough time at the moment. What we discussed as a group was that BL/ind was staying quiet because they were developing something new. We don't know what they could be developing, but they might just be improving something, like the Mortes.

Sparx was the only known Morte that was on our side. What I learned about Mortes was that they are created young and with emotion, but as they grow they are taught only to kill and destroy. Sparx doesn't talk much, so his story is still unknown. I don't know how he got out here. I think the only one that would know would be the Doctor and maybe Show Pony.

It makes me wonder what goes on in his head. He could possibly have an idea about what BL/ind is making; he was created there, of course.

The only time he ever talked about his kind was during important group meetings. According to him, Mortes once had partners, a completely different species of monster that was created and horribly unsuccessful. He didn't say anything about what the partner was going to be, if he even knew. It could be anything from a different species of Drac or androids. All he said was it was the farthest thing from human.

Currently he sat staring at the booth's table. Fun Ghoul and Party Poison were in a booth across from each other, while Jet Star was sitting in a dining chair with his back to the main table. I sat down in one of the smaller booths in the corner and rested my head casually against the wall. We were all silent, trapped in our thoughts.

After an hour or so of just sitting, the Doctor came into the diner. None of us moved or said anything, but it was obvious we wanted to know why he was here. He placed a map of Battery City and the surrounding Zones on the table and gestured for Ghoul, Party and I, along with Show Pony and Sparx, to join Jet, for he had something to tell us.

"BL/ind's quiet days seem to be over," He said to us, 'A group of Dracs have attacked Group 5 out in Zone 3. They are incredibly outnumbered. "

It was obvious that we were going out to help them. The diner was in Zone 6, which means it might take about two hours to get over to Zone 3. Hopefully they would still be alive when we got there.

As we got out to the car, I was wondering why BL/ind suddenly came back out. The five of us fit in the car with the fact that Show Pony could turn into something incredibly small. We were prepared to fight for a long period of time, and we went out feeling quite confident.

Party was driving. I was lucky enough to score shotgun for this ride. Jet and Sparx were on opposite sides of Ghoul, who, being the shortest got the middle seat. Show Pony the swallow was currently resting on the edge of Party's seat.

When we arrived, thankfully, all of the killjoys that were fighting were still alive. There were many Dracs, and it looked like more were on their way, with the anticipation that was in the air. We all stepped out of the car, our guns already in our hands, and got into positions that would give us the best shot. If all goes well, we might not have to do the buddy system, where we find someone to back us.

The other killjoys looked relieved to see us here. There were only about five of them, and they seemed to just be passing through the desert on foot, as the fight was taking place in the middle of nowhere. Even as we just arrived, we took down about three Dracs, thanks to Ghoul, Party, and Pony.

I shot at one. Hit on upper shoulder. Finished off by Jet. The whole battle went along the lines of that, with me sometimes finishing off for others or some being killed with one shot.

We thought it was all over until a white truck showed up.

Nothing came out of the truck for a good five minutes. When the door finally opened we were all confused.

Two medium sized snow white dogs came out of the door to the truck. They had pointy ears and shiny, silver plates on their back, like an armadillo. Their tails were like a lion's, with short hair until the top, which had a slick bundle of black hair. They looked like little German Shepherds. They came out and sniffed around. I couldn't deny, they were cute.

No one moved except for the dogs. When they saw us, they ran forward like puppies. One of the dogs ran to one of the unknown killjoys, wagging its tail playfully. We didn't know what to think. The other dog was staring at Fun Ghoul, although he was watching the other one.

He didn't notice how quickly the dog ran up and attacked him.

Obviously, at first, it was a big shock, and as we pulled off the dog now, we noticed it was no longer cute. It had big, long fangs, the plates have grown spikes, and the clean white fur was spiking up.

Suddenly the other one came over and attacked Jet Star. Then, what looked like hundreds came pouring out of the truck. They ran out in a field of white and went straight towards the vampires.

We knew what we had to do, so we all aimed our guns.


	18. Chapter 18

18

It was heartbreaking to see so many dead dogs all around us, but finally they stopped coming out of the truck. Whatever BL/ind was trying to make sure was terrifying, and thankfully we all are fine.

The worst I got was a scratch, but some people, like Jet Star, got full-blown bites. They didn't look to harmful, though.

The only one who didn't receive any damage was Sparx. They didn't touch him, but they went after the rest of us.

After we all patched up, we decided to head back to the diner before it became dark. We all got into the Trans Am tiredly, the same seats as before. No one was in the mood to pick a fight for seats.

When we made it back the sun was setting. All our bodies felt tired, even the vampires, and we all decided to head into the diner for a rest.

I was seated in the same booth as before we left when it happened. I felt something strange, like when we were out in the desert. But this time, it felt like the opposite, like what Party Poison was feeling. This feeling was dangerous, like it could kill everyone here, but at the same time I felt as if I've felt it before.

At the same time, I felt the urge to go out there and attack it and to stay put.

I went with the first one.

I walked outside without saying anything and stood on the porch. I looked around, trying to find something that was creating this sense. It was completely silent out, but I could feel whatever it was still, and it was coming from around the diner.

I went to the back where the vampires threw the Drac bodies to decay. Right now there were about two of them.

What I wasn't expecting to see was the thing standing on them.

It was one of the dogs from before, but it was much bigger. Its white fur was dirty and matted. It was looking straight at me, baring its teeth, which were long and looked very sharp. He was obviously not happy.

I couldn't move. I was afraid that he would attack, and he was too close for me to get my gun out in time. I was contemplating what to do when he finally did attack.

And it came as such a shock I had no idea what happened next.

**Another shorty, I'm building up anticipation…**


	19. Chapter 19

19

My first instinct was then to run.

Sadly I had no exact place to run to, and it was hard to control myself in this form. I couldn't run very well, as I wasn't used to using what used to be my hands as feet, or should I say paws. The dog was much better at running, but thankfully, even with this disabled way I was running, I was still faster than it.

My first thought as I ran around was to go back inside the diner. I couldn't do that, though, what we learned today was that these dogs seem to target vampires, and from the look of this one, it might be able to seriously harm one of them.

And then it hit me.

I have claws now. So I ran straight for the tree that was on the hill. Again, thankfully, the only known hill in the desert was right here, so the dog was slowed down, as I kept agile.

Once I was up the tree and safely away from the dog I then began to panic. Show Pony wasn't around and I had no idea how to transform back. I clung to the other side of the tree branch, with my tail wrapped around it too, and began to get sense of my situation.

I had a nice, long tail. As the dog kept barking I looked over myself, finally getting slightly calmer. I had short fur that looked fairly soft. It was a nice brown-gold colour. I felt fairly small. I seemed to be a common house cat. I guess we can't all be tigers, though.

I looked down at the dog, which finally stopped barking. It was looking up at me with bared teeth. It growled at me. I decided to practice my form's voice. I stood up on the branch and let out a hiss.

I was definitely a cat.

_Easy, tiger, _A voice from behind said. I turned around and saw none other than a swallow.

I must have had a confused look on my cat face because next it said, _We can communicate with each other when we are both in this form._

He was basically ignoring the dog, and he hopped over to me on his little bird feet and sized me up. I was taller than him by at least a head though.

_You're cute and fluffy, the guys will like that._ I smirked a little, still getting over the fact that out of the whole world of animals I was a cat.

_Let's figure this out, now, _Show Pony said, hopping down to a lower branch closer to the dog. The dog stared at him, but didn't move.

_Who are you? _Show Pony asked the dog.

It stood very still for a while, but then, to my surprise, it spoke.

_I am Yema the Great, _The dog said in a very deep voice, like a wise, old, but angry, man.

Show Pony the bird blinked, "And what may that be?"

"I've come to finish the job of the pups and take revenge for them. This got in the way," He gestured with his head to me, "I have to terminate it."

"What were the pups' jobs?"

"We Yemas are slayers, and our job is to terminate vampires, and anything that comes in our way."

After a short silence, Show Pony dropped the bomb.

"Who created you?"

The Yema glared, but said and did nothing else.

Silence.

Silence.

Then it fell.

_Dead._

The blood was unmistakeable.

Show Pony then turned back as Sparx came around the corner, gun still smoking slightly. Show Pony then turned to me in the tree, and tried to lift me up. My voice came out as a _meow_ when I protested and my claws dug into the tree bark in resistant.

Show Pony just laughed and picked me up. It felt weird to be small and to be carried by Show Pony, who is shorter than me when we're both human.

As I was being carried I looked down at the Yema. It was so different now then it was alive, its face had softened, and the teeth were hidden.

I was distracted when Show Pony had the nerve to fucking pet me.


	20. Chapter 20

20

It took a long time and was a fairly large pain to get me back to human, but we did. Show Pony was right, it does hurt a little at first, and I only realized it the second time. I suppose the first time I transformed there was too much adrenaline and I didn't feel it.

Now that we discovered what BL/ind's new invention was, we were seeing a lot more of the Yemas. They came around every now and then, and they were always different. The species seemed to be perfected, but the abilities were always different. Some of the more advanced Yemas could shoot things that looked like laser beams from their mouth; it was both kind of ridiculous and interesting at the same time.

Today, we had a special mission. We were to head out to Zone 1, right near the boundaries of Battery City. I was anxious to see how big the city actually is, Zone 1 is one of the largest zones in width, so we have barely gotten close enough to see the actual outline of the city.

There was supposedly a camp there of people that were once in the city. According to the doctor, these people could use our help and were not dangerous. They were escaping. The camp was said to have about fifteen people in it, and it was our job to identify who the people were.

It was just the four of us this time, Party, Ghoul, Jet and I, which meant space for me to be in human form. It was about a week later since I first transformed and we discovered the creation of the Yemas, and I was still uncomfortable with the whole 'cat' feeling. Everyone else thought it was great, and they all love cute furry animals (besides Yemas).

I was having a more difficult time. It is not easy to adjust to the life of a cat. They are almost completely different from humans, and I've taken a mental note of all the hardships.

First of all, walking was a horrible start. The pads on my cat feet felt very strange, and walking on the desert ground felt weird. It wasn't hot, but the pads made my feet feel bouncy.

Being a cat made me have cat instincts. Such as the sudden wanting to kill someone, randomly getting friendly, being back to normal, and trying to attack people/things on a regular basis. Thankfully these only happened when I _was_ a cat and not human too.

The tail was interesting. I was entertained when I learned that I could actually control it and wrapped it around small objects. I could almost lift them but my tail doesn't have fingers.

Surprisingly Power Pup doesn't taste too bad as a cat. I know it's meant for dogs but it is more edible when I am an animal.

The only thing that sucks completely is the fur. The worst possible place to have fur is the desert. It gets so god damn hot I can't stand it. I constantly thank myself that I don't have black hair.

We were gaining momentum on the road. We actually took Route Guano today, which was a bit of a risk, but it was also the quickest way to get to the city, which meant going right through to Zone 1.

With the incredible speed we were at, we were already in Zone 3. From Zone 6 that took about two hours, which was a great time. The Trans Am was still holding up and didn't need a refilling for another 39 miles. It should be fine until we reach the station in Zone 1 so we can fill her up.

Party hit a fairly large rock, which caused Ghoul to bite his lip. He let out a tiny yelp, as it must of hurt, being a vampire, but there was no blood of course.

He caught the attention of Jet, who then was lost staring out the window past Ghoul's head.

"Poison," he said "There's someone over there."

He didn't stop driving, but turned and looked over to see what Jet was talking about. He turned slightly and stopped to get a still view.

There was someone there, alright, but I'm not sure if it was alive. Gerard turned off the Trans Am and started to step out as Jet, Ghoul and I did.

Ghoul was a lost more wary to go up to the person than the rest of us were. Party was looking at it curiously.

Now that I was getting a closer look, I noticed that the person was smaller than I thought it would be, and as we were all standing around it, we could see that it was a child, a young girl.

Jet crouched down in front of her, blocking the sun from her eyes. Just then they opened, adjusting to the light and trying to see Jet's face which was unreadable by the sun.

She shot up quickly, noticing Ghoul, Party and I. Her eyes were wide and fearful. Now that she was up, I noticed more things about her. She was wearing a pure white suit, but it was covered in the red desert dust. She had really curly hair, like Jet Star, but more poofy.

With a closer look, we could see the smallest creature hidden in her forearm joint. It was very tiny with its face hidden. I could only tell what it was by the snow white fur.

I crouched down next to Jet, staring at the Yema. The girl was frightened I could tell, but I gave her no glance. As I was watching it the Yema pulled its head out drowsily.

This girl, was wearing a BL/ind suit, carrying a Yema, and for some strange reason she was out here, alone in the desert? Although she was scared and young, I have to admit, she looked tough. She had to be tough if she survived out here for who knows how long.

"Who are you?" Jet asked in a gentle voice. She must have guessed that we were not going to do anything because she then gave him a venomous glare. The Yema puppy squirmed a little further out of her grip, looking a Jet Star happily.

I looked over at Party who met my eyes. We both knew the only way to get any information from her was from that Yema.

With this in mind, I transformed, which surprised the girl. The Yema started wagging its tail and came out from under the girl's arm.

Okay, it was bigger than I thought it was. I was a bit bigger than I was. It wagged it's lion's tail and came up and sniffed me. I backed away slightly keeping a straight face.

_Who are you?_ I asked it. It sat down when I talked to it, and with its tail still wagging, it spoke back.

_I am Exsul. But Grace calls me Marie. Exsulmarie. I like you._

She was a young, female puppy, but she was completely different from the big Yemas, who seemed to be so evil and strong. I guess it forms with age.

The girl was staring at me, but I ignored her. _Where do you come from?_

She inched a little closer. _The Cold People. Grace found me in the building. We became friends. She took me away, but I don't mind. I like it out here._

The Cold People?

_Who are the Cold People? _I asked her.

She stood up, very close to me now, and said, _I can show you! Come with me!_ She then took off in the direction we were headed in the Trans Am.

I ran quickly and sat down in front of her so she couldn't go around. _Maybe some other time, _I said.

Then she tackled me, licking my face.

The girl ran over and picked Exsulmarie up and off of me. She sat down next to me and the other guys followed. I looked up at the girl, staring at her right in the eyes. She didn't seem that afraid when she was looking at me. I ignored the strange, friendly Yema in her arms and put my front paws on her leg, stepping up to get a closer look at her.

She looked up to Party, who came over with the Jet and Ghoul. Party looked at the girl, his face solid, and reworded the question Jet asked before.

"How did you escape the city?


	21. Chapter 21

21

The girl talked to us when Party asked a question. She wasn't very descriptive, but she said her name was Grace. The answer to Party's question was a lot more discreet, though.

"I left" she said. Party had been trying for about ten minutes now. He was driving the Trans Am, while looking back through the rear view mirror to look at Grace. She decided that she could trust us, and came along with us until we could head back to the diner. We still had to go to the camp.

She was sitting in the section Jet was sitting in earlier with Fun Ghoul sitting next to her with Exsulmarie in the middle of them. Exsul seemed to like Fun Ghoul, and he seemed to like her too. It helped that she was cute.

I was sitting on Jet's lap, because if I wasn't I would be in the back being attacked by a puppy. Grace was looking out the window. I wish I could understand her, what her story was. It isn't likely that a child comes far out in the desert and survives. By the way she was lying in the sun to how she is now, completely fine; I wouldn't guess that she's sick or anything.

Maybe she's a vampire. Party reacted the same way she did out in the desert- But no, she can't be one, why would a vampire run away with vampire hunters like Yemas? Then again, Exsul doesn't mind Ghoul, Jet, or Party. I jumped up to the top of Jet's chair, watching the young Yema. She was sitting on Ghoul's lap, wagging her tail as he petted her. Jet turned around to see what I was looking at. He smirked and then reached out to pet me.

Party slammed on the breaks, alerting us that we arrived at our destination. I was unprepared and flew backwards, landing on Grace. She looked down at me, completely unfazed, as I stood up just to be attacked by that damn dog.

We all came out of the car, except for Grace, who was still uncomfortable with us. I could finally be human again. The camp was huge, and by that I mean _huge_. Everywhere we looked there were people and different white tarps and tents put up. It was like an incredibly sad party that no one was having any fun at. Sadly now we were here to lessen the fun.

"How many people are there?" I said as I came next to Fun Ghoul. He kept looking out at the camp.

He shrugged, "All of 'em."

Party fired the first shot. He aimed it at a length of rope that was holding one of the bigger tarps. He had perfect aim, as the rope snapped, causing the tarp to collapse.

It was silent. Nobody said a word as the tarp slowly fell. We all stood still, except for Exsul, of course. She had no idea what was about to happen.

When the tarp finally hit the ground, there was still no sound. It was as if all the people that lived in the camp disappeared.

Party stepped forward and walked towards the tarp. The three of us walked behind quietly, covering him in case something happened. Exsul was following closely behind Fun Ghoul's feet.

Party walked up to the tarp and started shuffling it around with his foot. Finding nothing, he stepped onto it and walked around, making sure to step on the spots where it was in a mound.

He stepped on a hard mound that let out a shriek when he stepped on it. Party then took out a knife, bent down and cut through the tarp, revealing a middle-aged man, who stared at Party as if he was a demon straight from hell.

He backed further into the tarp, noticing the four of us. We took out our guns, and the man stopped moving. Exsul wagged her tail, happy to see another stranger.

"Come out," said Party, "get everyone else to, as well, or we'll start firing random shots."

The man crawled out, still looking scared, everyone else who was in the range to hear Party must've crawled over to the edge, getting other people's attention, as they all came out, standing still, and facing our direction.

"Who is good with answering our questions?" Party asked the crowd.

"That would be me," said a voice. It didn't come from the crowd but from behind us. Party turned to find a young man standing behind him. He was wearing one of the Better Living suits that all the people were wearing.

Party took a step back and sized up the stranger. He was a young man with dark hair, almost black, that went well with his grey eyes. You could say he was sort of good looking for a guy.

Party met his eyes, "And you are?"

The man smirked. "Dey call me Jack," he looked at Party fearlessly, "and you," he said, "you're all famous here, dey been sayin' you'd come."

Party's expression turned into a glare. He decided against continuing talking about this topic.

"How many of you are here?"

Jack seemed to have nothing to hide. "They be about forty-seven of us, curr'ntly. We all lef' da city, which is 'ow we got da tents."

Suddenly, Grace came up behind Jack. He didn't notice, but she looked at Party with serious eyes, as if trying to tell him something.

Party looked back at Jack. "This isn't the best place to camp if you're avoiding the city. It would be best if you moved a bit further away from the city, wouldn't it?"

Jack smiled, "Lemme tell the others of ya plan, a'ight? I'll see what dey tink and be back." He walked over to the other escapees.

Party kept facing towards Grace, who bent down to pick up Exsul. She met his eyes again, still keeping the same expression. She then looked behind Party as her eyes grew wide.

We turned around just as Jack had fired off the first shot.

**Sorry for taking forever to update, been kind of busy.**


	22. Chapter 22

22

This came as a shock.

We were all caught off guard, but thankfully, we had our guns in our hands. We were able to fire back at the advancing crowd of what must be Better Living employees.

Ghoul had a quick shot, and the man we found under the tarp was dead. Jet and I were on either side of Ghoul, shooting at anyone advancing.

Through the crowd of people, Party was looking for Jack. I couldn't see him anywhere, but at the rate they were falling down, he could have been already dead.

Jet called over to Party and gestured with his head in the direction of Grace and Exsul. Party looked back to see.

Jack was behind Party, but he wasn't who he was after. From what I could see, Jack was heading straight towards Grace.

She was backing up, but Exsul was going towards Jack, her teeth bared.

Sadly, Exsul isn't that terrifying.

Jack did stop approaching, though. He reached down to Exsul and picked her right up, measuring her with his face. He smiled at her.

Then she did something that made her terrifying.

In an instant, Jack's face was on fire.

He dropped Exsul and his hands instantly went to his face as he screamed in agony. The fire wasn't going out, no matter how much he tried to make it. Exsul was staring at him intently with a blank expression.

I had to understand what she was doing.

Instantly, I transformed and ran over to her. She didn't move, only stared at the man whose face was melting off in front of her.

_Exsul_, I said to her, _stop this._

As soon as I spoke to her, she broke the concentration she was keeping on Jack. The flames went out instantly as she turned to me with big, sad eyes.

_May I please?_ She asked in a quiet voice. Normally, I would say yes, but that would be if she just shot him. Exsul was melting his face off. I shook my head.

_But he was going to hurt her!_ Exsul said. I stood my ground.

_Maybe if it was a bit more humane, _I said.

Almost all of the others were shot down now, and none of us had been wounded. They barely fired any shots. Party turned his attention back to Jack.

Jack was on his knees, his face in his hands. He looked up at Exsulmarie with red eyes, from what I do not know. Party walked over to him, standing tall with his gun to Jack's face.

"We don't really like fakes," He said as he pulled the trigger.

Jack fell and moved no more.

Exsul moved over and sniffed the body. She stood very still, but said nothing. Grace came back over to her and picked her up, lightly patting her head.

I went over to Party and hoped onto his shoulder. He glanced at me and then to Jack's body. Even though he just shot him in the face, he kicked the body to see… I don't really know, it's obvious he's dead.

Grace calmly walked back to the Trans Am, caring Exsul with her. Exsul kept her eyes on Jack's corpse the whole time.

When Party made it over to the car, he turned to see where Jet and Ghoul were. They were some kilometre away, in the far part of the camp, going in and out of tents. Party's eyes met mine, and I hopped off of his shoulder and went over to see them.

I transformed back and walked into the tent that Jet just went into. He was going through piles and bags that were inside the tent.

"Find anything?" I asked. He jumped, surprised to see me. He looked at me than back to the pile of old clothes in front of him.

"Well, they certainly came prepared," he said, gesturing for me to take a look at what he found.

As I looked, all you could see was a pile of white guns. Why they would need that many was a mystery to me, but this was just one tent, too. Suddenly Ghoul appeared in front of the tent opening. He looked in to see what we had found.

"Cool," he said, "you found guns too?" He was carrying a giant bag that he probably took from one of the other tents. He opened it up and began scooping more guns into it. He stopped when it was almost full.

"We're set for afterlife," He said.

We returned to the car that Poison and Grace were already in. Because of the lack of space, I had to transform into my cute form again, but this time went into the back to sit between Grace and Ghoul. Actually, it was more like next to Ghoul and Exsul, who was very happy to see me.


	23. Chapter 23

23

Grace got out of the car and looked at the diner. I couldn't tell what she thought of it, she just stared at it as Exsul slipped around her and went up to the steps. When she got there, Doctor D came out of the door. He looked down at her with a blank expression. She wagged her tail.

Grace didn't go forward to retrieve her Yema, but just looked at Doctor D. He turned his direction from Exsul to the four of us, who were getting the giant bag of guns out of the storage area of the Trans Am.

He came out to where we were, walking right past Grace without really caring about her. He took the giant bag from Fun Ghoul and opened it up, smirking at all the guns in it. He looked over to Party.

"All good?" He asked him.

"Camp was a set up," Party told him, "They worked for BL/ind, brought guns and everything. They must have expected us to come."

The Doctor was distracted from Party by something at his pant leg. Exsul was trying to get his attention; she had his pant leg in her mouth and was pulling it. He looked down at her and she wagged her tail.

The Doctor picked her up and looked at her. She wagged her tail more. He glanced over to where grace was still standing and looked back to Party.

"Where'd you find 'em?"

"Middle of Zone Three." The Doctor looked at him, placed Exsul on the ground, and crossed him arms, expecting an explanation.

"They weren't with the others, they must've left the camp or left the city on their own," As he said this Sparx and Show Pony came out of the diner and started toward the car. Show Pony was looking at Grace with a confused expression on his face and Sparx was looking at Exsul.

Exsul ran over to Sparx and sat down in front of him, wagging her lion's tail. Sparx looked at her warily, and then kneeled towards the ground, getting a closer look at her. Suddenly, she jumped up to him, placing her front paws on his knee and wagging her tail excitedly. Sparx slowly reached a hand down and started to pet her.

The Doctor and Party were still talking as Ghoul and I made out way in the diner carrying the seemingly heavy bag of guns into the back storage room. When we came back out to the dining area, we noticed that everyone had started to make their way inside. Grace looked around the diner, not that there was much to see anyways.

Sparx was holding Exsul in his arms as she was looking around the diner. He seemed to really like her. It must have been because Mortes and Yemas are made to be partners. They seemed to hit it off right away.

The Doctor addressed to Grace, "Ghoul will show you to wear you will sleep."

Ghoul smiled politely at Grace as he showed her to one of the furthest back rooms, where it would probably be safest.

"Now I guess we have to keep the Yema, too," The Doctor said, looking down at Exsul. She looked up at him and wagged her tail.

Sparx put Exsul on a booth seat and reached into his pocket. He rustled around through it then pulled out a black bandana. He took the bandana and tied it around her neck. She wagged her tail happily.

"It goes well with her fur," He said to no one in particular. He patted her on the head once more, and then walked outside to the porch. Exsul went to go follow him until Grace came back from the back room.

"Marie," She said, with a bit more confidence than before she talked to us, "Come." Exsul came running over to her, where she picked her up and walked back to the back room.

"Were going to have to teach her to be one of us," The Doctor said after Grace left the room, "There's no way she can go back to that city, even if she would want to."

We agreed. She would have to learn how to survive out here, for one thing, and she'll have to learn the ways not to throw up when eating Power Pup. Most likely, she would have to learn how to shoot a gun, which is kind of sad for a kid to learn. We wouldn't make her fight, it would simple be for needed defence.

"Now are only problem is who is going to teach her these things," The Doctor said. Everyone was silent. It was obvious that no one wanted to have the responsibility to take care of Grace and make sure she doesn't get killed out here. The Doctor looked around at us and stopped at Ghoul.

"You teach her how to shoot and survive," He said to him.

"Why me?" Ghoul asked him.

"You are the best shooter. Don't worry though; I'm the one who is going to have to teach her how to eat Power Pup, as the other two who eat it eat about once a month."

Ghoul sighed, "Fine, I'll look after her," Jet gave him a pat on the shoulder.

"Now, if you have something to do," He looked at Ghoul, "get to it. If you don't, go do something else." That wrapped up the unofficial meeting.

Everyone started going to different destinations. As Ghoul went to fetch Grace from the back room, Party and Jet sat down in one of the distant booths. I headed outside to the porch, where Sparx was before. He seemed to have disappeared once again.

I transformed into my fluffy animal form and jumped up to the railing. There was a nice spot of light that always hit the railing perfectly, so it was a very comfortable spot to relax. I curled up there as Ghoul and Grace came out the door with Exsul coming outside after.

Exsul didn't follow Ghoul or Grace. She began sniffing around the diner, and then she found a nice spot of dirt a couple feet in front of where I was and started rolling around in it. When she was finished, she shook off a lot of dust that was stuck to her fur. She wasn't so clean and white anymore.

She then noticed me, lying on the railing. Her tail started wagging and she ran up to the porch to see me.

_Hello!_ She said to me. I looked down at her. She was weaving around my tail, which was hanging over the side of the railing.

_Hello, Exsul,_ I said.

She was always so happy; _do you want to play with me?_ She asked. Damn. I didn't want to have to tell her that I didn't. I sat up on the railing.

_Why don't you go with Grace and Ghoul?_ I asked her.

_I don't know where they went. _That's true, she wasn't looking and probably didn't notice them leave.

_Well, can't you… smell them, or something?_ Her eyes lit up.

_I know what Grace smells like! _She started sniffing the ground in irregular patterns to trace the way Grace went. When she found a reliable path she took off around the building. I decided to transform back into human and head inside.

When I got there, Party and Jet were talking in hushed voices. They looked over when I came in.

"So, that fire thing with the dog…" Jet started, and then drifted off.

I shrugged, "What about it?

He raised an eyebrow, "Don't you think that might be a bit dangerous..?"

All in a matter of seconds I replayed that moment in my head. It really was scary, and strange, that lighting someone's face on fire with your mind was possible. Maybe it's one of the new components with Yemas. But it could be dangerous to have her here, if she ever gets angry, or anything, she could kill us. But then again, she is a puppy, so if she's raised right, she should be fine… right?

"I guess… it could be bad. If she isn't trained properly," I said.

Jet was about to say something else when we heard a loud noise from above us. It wasn't from inside. The three of us looked at each other confused and agreed on heading outside to see what was going on.

We walked out to the front of the diner, looking up at the sky, when suddenly, two of the biggest planes I've ever seen flew overhead, and we then heard loud sounds that were familiar to the sounds of ray guns.

And the diner exploded.


	24. Chapter 24

24

The blast sent us flying, and when we landed we were buried in a pile of rubble. Party and Jet jumped up immediately after the blast stopped, but hid again just as the planes were turning back; going towards the city in the direction they came. I felt woozy, and as I pulled myself out of the wreckage of the diner, I stumbled over my own feet. Party was there to keep me up straight.

We could see Grace and Ghoul who were coming towards us. They seemed to be unharmed by the blast.

"You guys alright?" Ghoul asked us. It was the first time he ever sounded worried.

"I think we're fine," Party said. I nodded along after him.

Sparx walked over to us, clearly just witnessing the wreck. "What happened?" He asked. His eyes were wide but his tone was calm.

Show Pony flew down and transformed back into his human form. "The planes were from BL/ind. It said it on the side. It seems they didn't like what you guys did at the camp." He directed at us.

"Where's Doctor D? And the dog…?" Sparx asked.

We started looking around. I could see much, as I was still dizzy, but I could hear a little. Everyone was quiet, so you could hear something from far away.

I heard something walking through the rubble on the far end that used to be the back of the diner. Before I could say anything Sparx was headed to it.

He was very fast, and he was there digging in the rubble before any of us got over to him. He moved a big piece of wood and looked at the uncovered spot.

He reached in and pulled out a very dirty, soot covered Yema. Exsul opened her eyes and looked at Sparx. She then started wagging her tail slightly. Sparx took her into his arms and started petting her.

We still had to find The Doctor, but Sparx seemed to completely forget about that at the moment. He was just happy that Exsul was alive.

Exsul hopped out of his grip and began digging around in a nearby pile of wood and dirt. She looked over at Sparx and barked once. He came over and looked to see what she found.

He was digging around when he suddenly pulled back quickly, before moving the broken pieces of our headquarters frantically.

He grasped a dirty, soot covered hand and pulled sharply out of the rubble. The Doctor was there, as it seems unconscious, maybe dead, as Sparx was pulling him out of the wreck.

Jet went to help Sparx and took The Doctor by the shoulders and pulled him out of the rubble.

He lied him down a little off from the wreck on the ground and brushed some dirt and ash off of his shirt. He let out an almost inaudible sound and opened his eyes slowly.

"How are you feeling, Doc?" Sparx asked him.

He let out a little grunt and moved him arm slowly to wipe dirt off of his face. "I could be better," he said quietly.

Sparx lifted him gently and carried him up slowly in case he was injured more seriously. "I'll take a look at him," he said, "I guess you guys can try to find things that didn't get damaged too badly."

We listened to what Sparx told us to do and walked through the ruins. I don't know what we would find in here, everything looked well-done to me. I kneeled down at a big pile and began digging through it. A lot of the broken pieces still felt a bit hot, so I had to dig through quickly and take short stops in order not to burn my hands.

I also noticed that when the blaze happened, I covered myself with my arm. My poor jacket now has a scorched and blackened patch on the side of it. I'm thankful it didn't burn my skin, though.

"Fuck!" I heard Ghoul yell out from a little bit away. He jumped out of the rubble and stood far away from the spot he was at, covering his nose.

The three of us came over to see what was going on. He pointed over at the spot he was at. Through his plugged nose he said, "The Storage Unit! There's blood everywhere!"

Jet and Party started backing up too. I was confused. I've never heard of a storage unit, but there must have been one. Now that I think of it, vampires need to drink blood and they would have to get it somewhere. I guess I don't notice these things often.

"Stay clear of that area, then. All of us." Party said. We all agreed that it was best to stay away for now. We don't want them to kill each other.

Fun Ghoul looked down at his hand and just stared at it looking confused about what to do. I looked at him with eyes that were asking him what was wrong, and he showed me his hand.

He got the smallest amount of blood on his hand. He must have been questioning what to do with it, as he can't exactly wipe it on anything around. He looked as if he wanted to bite himself, or just attack the blood.

"Wait, calm down," I said quickly as I grabbed his wrist to prevent him from trying anything. I reached into my pocket and pulled out a navy blue neck tie that I never wore. I wiped the blood off his hand as best as I could to make sure none of it was left. Of course, I couldn't get all of it off, but I took some softer dirt and rubbed it on the spot. You couldn't really see it anymore and the faint smell, most likely strong to him, was almost gone.

"Thanks," He said quietly, "I'm not so good with blood…"

I patted his shoulder, "You're fine."

Sparx appeared quickly next to Ghoul. "He's going to be fine, just a little burnt and bruised but not bad for a guy like him to be caught in an explo-"

He looked around suddenly. He looked down at Ghoul's hand quickly and then over to the spot where Ghoul found all the blood.

He started to walk forwards until Ghoul grabbed him arm.

"Sparx," he said, "ignore it." Sparx didn't look away from the spot, but he stopped walking and seemed to just be staring at it. He snapped back into reality then and took off in a flash somewhere. Ghoul sighed.

"He gets that way around blood," Ghoul said to me, "Always going towards it, like it's calling him, but the thing is, he doesn't need to drink blood. He's a creation, he can't die."

"Well sure he can," I said.

"Yeah, if another Morte kills him. That's it. None of us could hurt him in any way, and why would we try?"

I wonder how Sparx became a killjoy, if he is a Morte. It would be difficult to get out of the city, let alone be accepted as a killjoy if you are born a killer. He probably has a very interesting story behind himself.

Maybe it's a story I'll hear one day.


	25. Chapter 25

25

INTERLUDE

_He was waiting for the man to come. The man's name? That wasn't very important to him. He doesn't have to care about lower status names. Unless they are growing dangers._

_As it seems, the Fabulous Killjoys had become more 'fabulous', as it seems they took pride in being called. There was nothing fabulous about being rats. _

_It seems that he felt the need to dispose of them. As he sat in his chair, hand on his chin, he thought about the quickest and easiest way to exterminate them._

_The man knocked on the door and stepped in, shutting it behind him. He had small, rectangular glasses perched on the middle of his nose. He looked small and almost nervous as he stood in front of him. _

"_They have been located, sir," the man said. He smiled and leaned forward in his chair._

"_Send in the aircrafts," he said calmly, "Destroy their meeting place as they are in it."_

_There was no need for the man to argue, and with his given instructions, he sent out the commands right away._

_This could possibly be the easiest way he had ever gotten rid of pests._

**That's it for now. You must wait for more. Mwa ha ha.**


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